


Cyberpunk 2077: Shadow of Night City

by Planemo



Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: Bottom!V, Corpo V (Cyberpunk 2077), F/F, Help me come up with a better title please!, More as I remember - Freeform, Screw slow burn pour gas on the fire!, Super spy V, V has John Wicks ghost in her head next to Johnny, top!judy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 07:06:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 22,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29837850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Planemo/pseuds/Planemo
Summary: Raised by Mama Welles and growing up with Jackie, V is hired on by Arasaka where she makes her way to Counter-Intelligence and becomes the best there is. After getting fired she uses her skills to become one of the best mercs in Night CIty.
Relationships: Judy Alvarez & V, Judy Alvarez/V
Comments: 9
Kudos: 80





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> More notes at end.

So this is a VERY rough draft, as in wrote this at work in my down time and have only edited it while typing rough draft. It’s kind of a way to keep me occupied and also get back into writing something that isn’t a term paper for the first time in almost a decade. This is also a ‘proof of concept’ sorta deal too, to see if folks might be interested in this so feel free to provide constructive criticism on this. I will be diverging from the 2077 video game quite a bit but also stick to in in certain beats that I like, so that will be a thing. 

I’ll also be doing translations in line when characters a not speaking English _like this/como esto_ but ones that will be used regularly like _girl/chica_ will only be translated for the first chapter or two they appear and then be left in the language their being spoken in. If the character is speaking english for the most part but slipping in another language, like how Jackie will call V chica but be speaking mostly in english I’ll be putting it in the language spoken first followed by translation _chica/girl_

Also I’ll be literally typing things into google translate as you see them so if I’m butchering your native tongue I’m sorry…but it’s Googles fault so get mad at them. On the plus side I’m also really bad at English so everyone can be mad together.

Unity!!!

So anyways thanks for dropping by and I hope you enjoy.

Also if anyone in the Lizzies bar discord can tell he HOW to get an invite cause I tried through the reddit and haven’t gotten one yet. :(

Prologue

**2066**

Valerie ‘V’ Welles walked as calmly as she could to the HR office in Arasaka tower, doing the best she could to keep herself calm. Decades ago I simple trip to HR could have meant at best and employee review and at worst some ass-hat on at you for 20 minutes about you’re numerous bathroom breaks on company time while you have a bladder infection. But in 2066 in Night City? It could also be those thing...or it could be an enhanced interrogation followed by liquidation, those happened now too. And with her being on the 31st floor there was no way she could just leave the building, unless she learned how to fly of course.

So V did what any self respecting kid from Heywood would do in this situation, she squared her shoulders, metaphorically speaking, and would take as many of them with her as she could if it came down to it. For now though she had to play the meek accountant roll she had been cultivation since she started working for Arasaka 6 months ago.

Entering the room V saw a suit sitting behind the table and a security officer standing in the corner, standard procedure so far.

“Ms. Welles, please close the door and have a seat, this shouldn’t take too long.”

Nodding, V did as she was told but started fidgeting a bit after a few moments.

“No need to be nervous Ms. Welles, we’re just going to go over you’re employment so far as well as confirm some of your background information.”

Alarm bells rang in Vs head best she kept her cool, what choice did she have? “Of course sir, I’ll answer best I can.”

“Now according to your file you were born in 2046, both parents are deceased but there are adoption papers on file for a one Guadalupe Alejandra Wellesfiled in 2055. You acquired your HSED a year early from PS118(1), a public school funded by Militech, and after that went to work at El Coyote Cojo, owned by your mother, 2 years as an accountant and then applied for a similar position at Arasaka. Your criminal record is negligible, a few petty thefts before you were even in your teens and one assault charge that was dropped.”

“That’s an accurate summary of my life sir.” V said with a Nod(KANE LIVES IN DEATH)(1) and no small amount of relief.

“Excellent, now for your actual record.”

V went tense immediately and saw the guard shift his weight from the corner of her eye.

“No need for that now Ms. Welles.” the suit said with a smile. “The only real changes that we were able to ascertain to your file was you criminal record. On top of the previously mention you were also the suspect in several murders, 2 car thefts and a kidnapping, though the victim of the last one was unharmed.”

With a large sigh V leaned back in her chair and hanging her arm over the back of the chair. “Well since you guys figured me out is Boris over there gonna flatline me and toss me down the trash chute?”

“Not as such.” the suit said. “My job at Arasaka is rather unique and could be compared to a ‘talent scout’ of sorts. I keep an eye on out for various files and reports of those of interest that may be suited elsewhere in the company. Truth be told less then an hour ago you were fated for what you just described had I not come across your file by sheer happenstance. That the woman you portrayed yourself as had done such deeds had me curious and put a hold on the order.”

“Ok, I’ll bite where do you think I’m ‘most suited’ for then?”

“That will have to wait. Lars here will jack in to your neural port and upload a lie detector program. Should you pass we will proceed from there.”

“Not like I can say no at this point.” V said as she leaned her head to the side for better access to her port and flinched when the program ‘took hold’.

“Right then.” the suit said when Lars gave a nod. “Please state your name.”

“Valerie Welles.”(2)

“Have you ever been directly or indirectly involved with Militech, Biotechnica or any other Arasaka competition?”

“Possibly, but I don’t know for sure. Did some merc work but always through a fixer and didn’t ask for specifics other then the pay.”

“Acceptable. And you’re accounting work at El Coyote Cojo?"

“Perfectly legit. Mama Welles said I was too smart to be flatlined and thrown into some dumpster like some halfwit gangoon so she taught me how to handle the finances and payroll.”

“And how were you able to change your criminal record? I doubt you have the monetary means or blackmail that would be required to for such a thing.”

“Chance actually. Some badges were in a firefight with some Maelstroms and didn’t lock down his car or computer, so I was able to get into the database from there and change my records. Didn’t know Arasaka had it’s own copy though.”

“We don’t. The NCPD simply went through a system overhaul and came across the discrepancies when comparing the current database to backups. We were notified when they were made aware of your employment here.”

“Of course some shit like that would screw me over.” she said to herself. Louder though she continued. “So anything else you need from me?”

“Just one more thing. Who was it that taught you to act? Even after watching your body language shift so drastically I can scarce believe the change I witnessed.

“Taught myself.” V answered with a shrug. “Just figured it out as I went and gave people what they were expecting based on the situation.”

“I see.”

“Right, so assuming I passed your test, whats my new job gonna be?”

The suit looked at Lars who disconnected the jack. “If you’ll follow me I’ll take you to your new work assignment.”

V got up quickly to follow. “And that would be?”

“Counter Intelligence.” he said simply as he pressed the elevator button.

“Huh, sounds dangerous. That come with a raise or any new benefits?”

“Entry level pay is 30% more then what you are making currently and has Trauma Team Silver as standard for all members. You are also given an allotment for cyberware implants and upgrades yearly based on performance and need for field assignments.”

V let out a low whistle. “Nice.”

“Yes. However your benefits and pay will remain at your current levels until you pass a 3 month review has been completed and passed, should you survive that long.”

“And life expectancy around here is?”

“6-8 years. But that drops off as you raise higher in the ranks.

“Nova.” V deadpanned.

* * *

During her time in Counter-Intelligence V had done more the survive, she had thrived. She had passed her 3 month review easily and had hit the ground running after having all her restrictions released. Her immediate superior, Devlin, had continued to be a bag of dicks but now that the review was no longer hanging over her head he was fractionally better to handle. But now that she was legit she could actually do something about him taking the credit for the work of the other members of the team and herself. It was a simple thing really, contribute something to the OP that was guaranteed to catch his attention that would provide short term stability but would collapse the entire thing at the smallest provocation. And since he would take all the credit he would take all the blame.

It worked perfectly.

The gonk had tried to shift all the blame on her and had even come clean about stealing credit from other members of the team, but all upper management saw was his signature on the OP orders and he was done. Rumors had cropped up a week later that he had thrown himself out of his 12 floor apartment window. Shame that.

His replacement, Jake, was a senior member of the team and had been someone she had coordinated with to nail Devlin to the wall. He was competent and most importantly didn’t pull the same shit as his successor, for a while at least.

By 2069 V had been promoted several times and was in charge of the primary espionage assets for their team as well as the primary field operator when called for. It was at that point that Jake had started up with the same bullshit as Devlin. Unfortunately for V he was far more competent at his job but she had, in a moment of naivete, shown him how to set up an OP that looked iron clad on the outside but would collapse at the slightest provocation.

It wasn’t until she was out drinking with her brother a few months later that she was finally able to figure out a plan.

________________________

“I’m telling you _chica/girl_ , Vik is a master with his feints! He hit me _three_ times with the same move!

“Feints?” V said to herself before downing a tequila shot.

“Yeah, you know, where you fake hitting one place and strike somewhere else.”

“I know what a feint is you gonk!” she said with a shoulder bump. “I just...uuuurgh!!” V tried to vent some of her frustration by drunkenly waving here hand around like a child. “I’ve spent so much time around those square headed suites I’m becoming one. Back when I started CI I coulda dealt with Jake and his shit easily, but now I gotta sit and get drunk with you to get any good ideas.”

“You say that like its a bad thing, _Hermana_ _/Sister._ ” her brother said said around a drink.

V’s eyes widened when that hit her. “Shit Jackie, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.” V apologized frantically.

“All good chica/girl.” Jackie said downing the last of his beer. Looking over his glass he saw V with her head still in her hands so he threw an arm around her shoulders.

“I’m scared Jackie.”

Jackie's head snapped back over to V. He hadn’t heard he sound like that in years.

“I’m scared that one day I’ll look into the mirror and not recognize who I am. That this damn job will twist and warp me into just another Corpo bitch that will let any asshole hump my leg if it means getting a leg up.”

“Just gotta remember your roots Valerie. Get your haircut, redo your piercings, get some some ink, mix-up your wardrobe a bit. _Christo/Christ_ V, it’s your day off and you’re in your damn work suit.”

V got out of her slump almost immediately and slammed the shot that Pepe had put in-front of Jackie and slammed some Eddies on the counter. “This should cover it Pepe. I’m done for the night.” V was about to leave the bar but hugged Jackie from behind. _"_ _Thanks bro, you’re the best./_ _Gracias hermano, eres el mejor."_

Jackie patted the hands over his chest. “ _Gotta be there for my sister when she needs it./_ _Tengo que estar ahí para mi hermana cuando lo necesite."_

V let go after a moment and strode towards the exit with a new sense of purpose.

* * *

The next day V was nearly unrecognizable to her co-workers. Her hair had gown out long enough over the past few years to give herself a Mohawk braided ponytail with the sides of her head shaved(3) and had been dyed purple. Her long nail's had been trimmed down and pained a garish orange that contrasted heavily with her olive skin. The last bit she had had time for were the piercings on her face. Two rings had been put in the top of her left ear, the right ear had a single ring on the lob that had a fine silver chain that went to a stud in her right nostril and two more barbells were going vertically in her left eyebrow. She has done away with most of the makeup she had been wearing and had left only the black eyeliner and shadow.

V looked and honestly felt like a new woman and was in the perfect mood to fuck over Jake. She really needed to get Jackie something nice for helping her out.

She sat down in the briefing room, easily ignoring the looks the rest of her team was giving her in favor of going over the OP, doing her best to suppress the grin that wanted to split her face in half. This would be perfect.

It was testament to just how much of an asshole Jake had become that she was easily able to get the rest of the team on board with ousting him. She had worked diligently with the rest of the team to make little changes here and there as they went reminiscent of when they took down Delvin. So naturally as soon as Jake had taken one look at the changes made to the OP he wrote them out immediately. She made sure to make a small show of annoyance before briskly walking off. After all, what was used to harm an OP could be used to prop it up under the right circumstances and Jake was about to learn that the hard way two months later.

* * *

“You bitch!”

Looking over her shoulder V saw Jake angrily marching forwards and cut her off. “Hey Jake. Bad meeting with the boss?”

“Don’t play dumb with me.” He was right in Vs face and nearly screaming. “I combed over that OP multiple times after seeing the changes you tried sneaking in so there’s no way things should have gone as badly as they did.”

“Don’t try and blame me on your mistakes. I told you that we would loose long term viability and look what happened. Two months in and we’ve lost all our gains and then some in the region. Now if you’ll excuse me, the team and I have to fix your mess.” V shoved past him without a care. She had work to do.

Three days later she strode into Jenkins office with a completed OP plan to pull her team out of the fire. This was a big play on her part, if she was sent away outright she was screwed. If Jenkins didn’t go for the OP she was screwed. If 1001 things other then him giving the green light for the OP happened, she was screwed.

“Valerie, my secretary said you wanted to speak with me about something.” Jenkins said, not stopping whatever project he was working on.

“Yes sir, it’s about operation Soap Sword and-”

“Let me stop you there.” Jenkins interrupted her. “I don’t have the time to listen to you try and divest yourself of any blame. So if that’s all you can leave.” Jenkins dismissed.

“As head of Counter-Intelligence I’m aware of how valuable your time is sir and have none for problems, which is why I brought a solution.”

“Then why bring it to me? There are those lower down the channel that could just as easily sign off on such things.”

V took a deep breath, this was the selling point of the whole thing. "Because it involves the smash n’ grab of a Tier 1 Biotechnica HVT.” V left out that he was the only one who could sign off on such a thing.

Jenkins actually stopped what he was doing and looked at her for the first time. “You’re serious?”

“Yes sir.” V said with a nod “It’s all on here.” she said as she slid a shard case onto his desk.

Jenkins deftly removed the shard and placed it into a slot in his desk, most likely to check for malware, where it was spat out a few seconds later followed by a single beep where he slid the shard into the back of his neck.

His eyes glowed red as he went through the data. “Bold. Unconventional. I like it. How did you figure out the HVT would be on that incoming AV?”

V let out a breath before gathering herself and moving forward. “The shipping manifest included a small tanker of high-grade fuel. They normally use a medium to low grade for Avs in that area. It gets the job done but it burns inconsistently making for a choppy ride. Next that AV was pulled off the ready roster for the week but still to be maintained for immediate use and departure. And finally there was a low priority intercept from a maintenance worker who was griping about having to modify an AV as a mobile command station. It’s all admittedly circumstantial evidence at best but Biotechnica wouldn’t bother with even half of that in such a remote area for anything less then a Tier 1.”

“And you came up with this in 3 days?”

“No sir.” V answered immediately. “Myself and the rest of D12, minus Jake Wilson, worked on this for the last month as Soap Sword came down around our ears. We gave Jake our misgivings about the OP but they were disregarded and ops going as bad as this one have sunk entire teams in the past. So we started planning this OP to get everything back on track make up any losses incurred and then some.

Jenkins seemed to gather his thoughts for a moment before coming to a conclusion. “Alright Valerie, you’ve convinced me. The OP is yours, but first.” Jenkins flashed blue and V had a new notification

_'Your security level has been increased to level 7.’_

“There are a few things wrong with you’re plan but those can be easily solved with your higher clearance, along with the rest of D12 being given level 6. I’ll give you’re team 8 days to rework plan and have it in my office for authorization.”

V knew a dismissal when she heard it and gave a swift bow when she stood to leave. Jenkins was already taking a call before she straightened so she left without a word.

When V reached D12s briefing room the rest of the team looked as nervous as she felt and were somewhat nervous about the sudden new clearance levels but V was able to calm them all down and get the brought up to speed on what was expected of them. I quick break was taken for them all to absorb the new information before they were back to work ironing out any problems that they might have missed before.

**2073**

V had been head of D12 for 4 years when she was called into Jenkins office. It would be the first time since Soap Sword that she had been there.

“You wanted to see me sir?” she asked as she sat down in the mans office.

“I did. Before we continue though would you prefer to go by ‘Valerie’ or ‘V’ from this point forward?”

“V sir, if you don’t mind.” she had been thrown off by the question but had still answered quickly.

“Alright then V, onto why I called you in. I’ve been keeping tabs on you from time to time over the last year and I have to say I’m impressed. D12 went from a rather mediocre Tier 2 team to the top rated since you took over, with an 87% objective rate. You also seemed to have taken multiple supplementary classes; pistols, rifles, knife fighting and throwing, hacking, net-running, hand-to-hand and parkour. Passing each if not at the top of your class then within the top 3.” V was certain that if the man had had a physical file he would have tossed it on the desk in-front of him. “You’re current assignment in D12 too boring?”

This was a test, V wasn’t sure why it was but hopefully she would have the right answers. “In all honesty I’m bored sir. D12 pretty much runs itself these days, I’m just checking over my teams work with my higher clearance to make sure everything is in order and adding little bits here and there. The classes are me simply alleviating that boredom since I don’t have to worry about my team cutting themselves on the sharp things in the kitchen, so to speak, and don’t know what to do with myself.”

Jenkins took in her words as he spent a moment taking in her words before he spoke. “I’ll be honest with you V, you’re a natural at being both a leader and you’re Counter-Intelligence work. The entirety of D12 were forecast to raise no higher then a clearance of 4 but your ability to help them understand the fundamentals has pushed them beyond that.”

V couldn’t have stopped herself from swelling with a bit pride if she tried.

“So I have a job offer for you. Every department has a fixer that handles any problems that may crop up, be they internal or external. They’re the ones that department heads like myself rely on to get things done and when the gears have stopped turning.”

V nearly jumped at the chance but stopped. Considering things carefully. “What would my restrictions and resources be? Would I be working with a team or would I be soloing things.”

“Restrictions will be near non-existent. This will be dirty work V, if you have to sacrifice and entire floor of employees to keep an Arasaka branch from being lost or collapsing you’ll do it. The same goes for resources on the ground. If there’s something you need and your OP takes priority its yours to appropriate. As for a team that’s entirely up to you, you’ll have the pick of any team available to help you complete your mission unless I specifically tell you to go it alone.” Jenkins was staring at her intently. “So, what do you say V?”

“When do I start?”

“Right now.”

**2077**

V yelled in rage as she tore a hand dryer off the wall and threw it across the bathroom she was in. It slammed into a stall door and 3 frightened employees scurried out with cigarette smoke trailing behind them.

For the last year Jenkins just couldn’t stop sticking his dick into every OP she had been given, with negative effects and every damn turn when he did. It would mostly be little things but every now and then he would fuck things up so monumentally it would cause entire Op to implode spectacularly. His latest fuck-up had seen him give profiles of several key agents sent to infiltrate a Biotechnica plant to an agent named Frankfurt whom she had warned Jenkins, only 3 days ago, had been made.

The plan had been for the infiltrators to sabotage the power-plant and cause it to go critical in such a way that would make it seem like Biotechnica had been deferring maintenance(4) to a criminally irresponsible level, which would throw doubt on it’s holdings in the area and allow Arasaka to make a stronger case to keep its own bases in the area and in best case expand into Biotechnicas area without them being able to retaliate against them in any, overt, way. But that was down the drain now with Frankfurts capture and the entire infiltration team captured.

Thank fuck for plan B.

***Ring** *

“Hey Jackie, how things going?”

“Not bad V. You doin' ok, you sound a little out of breath?”

“Yes and no. Jenkins fucked my OP in a big way so I was just letting out some frustration. I’m fine other then that though.”

Jackie let out a sigh. _“You sure about that sis?/_ _¿Estás seguro de esa hermana?”_

" _Yeah Jackie, I'm the one who fixes other peoples shit. Remember_ _?/Sí, Jackie, soy yo quien arregla la mierda de otras personas. ¿Recuerda?”_

_“Doesn't mean I don't worry about you. Just don't want this job to be the death of you_ _./No significa que no me preocupe por ti. Simplemente no quiero que este trabajo sea tu muerte.”_

_“_ _It’ll be fine Jackie, that’s what plan B is for. Just have some faith._ _/Todo estará bien Jackie, para eso está el plan B. Solo ten un poco de fe.”_

_“_ _Alright V. I'll see you in a bit then at Lizzies?/_ _Muy bien V. ¿Te veré en un rato entonces en Lizzies?_

_“Yeah, don’t worry about starting without me. Should be there in an hour_ _./Sí, no te preocupes por empezar sin mí. Debería estar allí en una hora._

_“Alright V. Don’t leave me waiting too long. See you later._ _/Muy bien V. No me dejes esperando demasiado. Hasta luego.”_

_“Later Jackie._ _/Más tarde Jackie.”_

_***Doo** _ _*_

V let her head hang with a sigh. She hated making Jackie and Mama Welles worry about her but it was out of her hands. The best she could do was mitigate the dangers as best she could and plan ahead.

Cracking her neck she exited the bathroom, some people apparently had enough free-time to gossip about her tantrum as she made it to the elevator. The doors had just closed when-

*** Ring ***

‘Ah fuck.’

“What the hell V? You were supposed to be in my office an hour ago.”

“Got caught up handling a few things from the aftermath. I’m in the elevators now and should be there in a few.” V answered swiftly, wanting this call over with.

“Make it quick. Fuckin’ Frankfurt, that Abernathy bitch’ll be all over this if we don’t get a handle on this.”

*** Doo ***

V strode out of the elevator as soon as the doors opened, ignoring someone trying to get her attention as she passed, she had more important things to worry about right now. She ignored even more gossiping and pointing as she made her way to Jenkins office, wincing as the scanner played holy hell with her optics. Walking in she saw him pacing back and forth while watching a live feed from the ESC vote, she’d been following it via an audio feed in her head for the last hour. Things had been going smoothly, with her assets working in tandem to win the Council over perfectly. All they had to do now was wait for the vote.

“Take a seat V, I’ll be with you in a moment.”

V took the offered seat as an uneasy feeling started to fill her while Jenkins continued to talk on the Holo.

“No, not likely. Yeah thought as much. True but there’s too much at stake for anything other then a sure thing. Do it.”

V sat motionless as 6 months of work and millions in capitol went up in flames and smoke as half of the ESC were overloaded via the neurolinks. She sat and waited for Jenkins to finish whatever call he was on as she came to grips with what he had done. As soon as he ended the call she let her anger loose, if only marginally, as she surged to her feet and slammed her fists on his desk.

“What the hell was that Jenkins!? Do you have any idea what that stunt you just pulled cost up? First the Frankfurt debacle and now this? You-”

“That’s enough V.” Jenkins interrupted. “You seem to have forgotten who you’re talking to.”

V closed her eyes, still shaking with rage she counted back from 20 before sitting down. Her rage nowhere near quenched but, if only just, under control.

“You and Abernathy seem close.”

The sentence had been so random and out of place for the situation that V could only get out and incredulous “What?”

“Don’t play stupid V, she just complimented you latest tattoo.”

The rage was back and she only just snapped her mouth shut on the vitriol she was about to spew at him for his bullshit. “You’ll have to forgive me for not paying attention to yours and Abernathys’ latest pissing contest while trying to figure out a way out of this shit pile we’re in.” she was only _just_ able to keep the ‘thanks to you’ from crossing her lips.

“Is that so?”

“Oh for fucks sake Jenkins.” V couldn’t help but throw her hands up in the air as the sheer bullheadedness of this man. “The only reason she says shit like that is because she knows it’ll get a rise out of you.”

“Jenkins just narrowed his eyes as he stood up. “Lets test that theory, shall we?”

V let out a frustrated sigh, shooting Jackie a quick text that she would probably be late for drinks, before following Jenkins who had made it over to the wet-bar.

“Shard on the table is your next assignment.”

‘This won’t end well.’ was all she thought before slotting the shard. As profiles scrolled across her vision she let out a resigned sigh. “A loyalty test, really? Do you honestly think Abernathy won’t see this coming from a mile away?”

“That’s your problem.” Jenkins said uncaring as he sat down with his drink.

“Who did you have get the intel?”

“Unimportant.” he dismissed.

“Who, damnit?” V pressed.

“Marcus.” Jenkins relented with an eye-roll.

“Are you shitting me? I told you weeks ago she was Abernathy’s pocket pussy. Did you honestly think she didn’t jump between her legs the first opportunity to spill the news about you gathering info on her lover?”

“I vetted Marcus myself. She’s fine. Discussion over.” Jenkins had made up his mind and was digging in his heals. There would be no convincing of him otherwise. He could be such a fucking child.

“Anything else?”

“Just this.” Jenkins said as he pulled a stack of Eddies from his jacket and placed it on the table. “Use that to pay for whatever you need. My AV is on standby to take you wherever yo need to go.”

V stuffed the stack in coat and walked out. Jenkins was already on another call, a common dismissal.

Asshole.

There was a calm that came over her as she walked to the AV pad. She knew this OP was fucked but with some luck she would be able to keep her head. The cybernetics she had bought using the company policy were minimal so at worst she would need to see a ripper and deal with a minor hangover. She would have to worry about that later. For now she had calls to make.

"Destination: Lizzie's Bar.” she said to the AI as soon as the AV doors closed. V pulled up her contact list and made her first call. It hadn’t even finished the first ring before the face of Mama Welles had shown up on her HUD.

_"V, how are you sweetheart? It's been so long since you last called me out of the blue like this.”/ “V, ¿cómo estás cariño? Ha pasado tanto tiempo desde la última vez que me llamaste de la nada de esta manera.”_

_“Really sorry about that Mama Welles. The whole ‘boss’ go to girl’ thing is really a time eater. I had hoped to be able to stop by in person but I was thrown on another job immediately after my last so I’ll barely have time for drinks with Jackie tonight before I’m off to work again./Lo siento mucho por eso Mama Welles. Todo el asunto de "el jefe va con la chica" es realmente devorador de tiempo. Tenía la esperanza de poder pasar por aquí en persona, pero me enviaron a otro trabajo inmediatamente después del último, así que apenas tendré tiempo para tomar una copa con Jackie esta noche antes de irme a trabajar de nuevo.”_

_"I see./Veo.”_

V could tell the women was upset, having been raised by the women since she was 9, and it really did upset her to see the women like that.

“ _It’s also why I called you. I heard you and Pepe talking a few weeks ago about bills piling up and I wanted to help before I took off. I’ wouldn’t be able to concentrate or forgive myself if something happened while I was gone that I could have helped to prevent./También es por eso que te llamé. Los escuché a ti y a Pepe hablar hace unas semanas sobre las facturas acumuladas y quería ayudar antes de despegar. No sería capaz de concentrarme o perdonarme si sucediera algo mientras no estaba que podría haber ayudado a prevenir.”_

_“I couldn’t ask that of you V./No podría pedirte eso V”_

_"You don’t have to./No tienes que hacerlo.” V transferred 200k into her mothers bank account immediately._

Mama Welles crossed herself as her eyes glowed blue from the transfer. _“You’re too good for this city daughter./Eres demasiado buena para esta hija de la ciudad.”_

_“So you keep telling me mother. Make sure you use that right away to pay everything off. I don’t want you to ‘mysteriously’ end up finding some of it a few weeks from now./Así que sigues diciéndome madre. Asegúrese de usar eso de inmediato para pagar todo. No quiero que termines "misteriosamente" encontrando algo dentro de unas semanas.”_

_“And I will continue to say it. Be safe my daughter. I love you./Y lo seguiré diciendo. Esté a salvo, hija mía. Te Amo.”_

_“I’ll do my best mother. I love you too./Haré mi mejor madre. Yo también te amo.”_ V ended the call with a heavy sigh, that had been rough. Nearly the entire call had been in code, letting Mama Welles know that she was most likely on borrowed time. Thankfully Arasaka hadn’t terminated yet so even if they wanted to the would have a very difficult time reclaiming the Eddies she had just sent the woman.

2 Calls left.

Vik took 2 call to finally pick up, though given the late hour she didn’t blame him.

“V, I swear if you’re drunk calling me-”

“I need to make an emergency order Vik.”

That immediately calmed the man down as it was the same kind of code she just used with Mama Welles. Vik was good people.

“Alright, but you know my rates for that right?”

“Vik, please remember who you’re talking to . It’s all good.”

“If you’re sure kid. So what are we working with?”

“Just over 160k.”

“Alright, what are you after then?”

“First I need a new hormone suppressor, this one spikes too high and leaves me feeling like a damn sociopath.”

“Yeah, that is a problem with the X-5 variant, we’ll downgrade to the X-3. If you want we can sell off the X-5, give you some more wiggle room to play with.”

“Nah, I bought it with the Arasaka plan so I gotta return it once it’s removed.”

“Right. So next?”

“Kiroshi MK3. Green like my ones now. Also need targeting and threat assistance as well as a route overlay system.”

“Alright, next?”

“Ballistic Coprocessor. Need reliability and precision over what ever sparkly doo-dads they’re advertising.”

“Hmmm, gonna want to go with the H-series MK-6. It’s an older model but it’s built like granite and has laser precision.”

“Preem. We got enough left for a mono-wire set?”

“Heh, finally decided to take the plunge eh? Unfortunately no, but I know a guy in Kabuki and if you’re willing to run a favor or two for him I can get that taken care of for you.”

“Nova. Thanks Vik, I got no problem helping him out if it gets me those. Transferring the funds now.”

“Thanks kid. You take care of yourself, alright?”

“Will do Vik.”

One last call.

“V? Do you know what time it is?”

“Hey Abby, need a huge favor done right now if you can swing it.”

“Depends. It’s like 2AM so nothing too complicated.”

“Just need you to grab Nibbles and all of his stuff please. Gotta move for work and didn’t want the movers stepping on or scaring him a bunch”

“Oh, so we’ll be done then?”

“Yeah. Sorry I didn’t give you more of a notice.”

“It’s fine V. We were ‘friends with benefits’. Nothing more or less.”

“Thanks Abby. I’ll be having a Choom heading over round noon to pick it all up.”

“No problem V, have a good night.”

“You too Abby.”

V let out a breath when the call ended. That one really was just V getting her cat out of the apartment before Arasaka goons showed up and either ‘put him down’ or throw him down the garbage chute.

_“There is no designated landing pad at our destination.”_ The AI toned.

“There’s a basketball court in the back. Land there.”

“Affirmative.”

V stepped out of the AV as soon as the doors opened and was met by the basketball courts welcoming committee before she made it 4 steps from the AV.

“What the hell psycho-suit?” yelled one largest one as he thrust the basketball at her chest.

Vs hand came up to stop the ball from impacting her chest, she was still a bit sensitive from her new piercings.

“Sorry about interrupting the game fellas, boss gave me the AV for transport without thinking ahead about landing the damn thing.”

The AV chose that moment to close up and take off without the usual warning.

‘Oh there’s nothing wrong with that.' she thought sarcastically. 

“Look fellas, as an apology I’ll give you some advice. There will be some more suites showing up in a bit and they’ll be taking things way more seriously then me, so don’t try pulling the same chest beating bullshit you just did with me or they’re liable to flatline you.” A slight shove and the man holding the basketball stumbled away.

V walked off leaving the 3 men to stare at her for a second before they went back to their game

“Trouble looking to get in?” the bouncer asked.

“No trouble here, just lookin’ for some time to unwind” V answered honestly.

“Riiiight. Play nice then or you’ll wish you had.” the Mox stepped aside.

V nodded in thanks as she entered, descending some stairs and moving past a few patrons before she entered the bar proper where she was assaulted by whatever the hell it was that was being blasted through the clubs speakers. She made a b-line for the bar waving at Jackie in the corner so he’d know she saw him.

“Hey Mateooo-” V drifted off when she looked over at who she sat next to. V would often roll her eyes when she heard someone talking about ‘true love’ or love at first sight’, but right now she was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt as she looked at the woman next to her.

Her hair had been buzzed down to stubble on the left side exposing a newly implanted BD editors chip with the hair on her right side going down to her shoulders and going from teal to pink down it’s length. She was attractive to be sure and from what V could hear as she chatted with Mateo had a Hispanic accent that V was certain she wouldn’t get tired of if the two ever got talking.

Eyes moving down V saw a plethora of tattoos. Red spider webs, song lyrics, roses, a fire engine of all things and brand new Mox ink on her neck. The final bit that had caught her eye was the BD editors glove the woman was wearing. It looked well worn but obviously taken care of and if she looked closely V could see tan lines on the woman's arm.

“V, you in there?”

V tore her gaze away from the woman next to her and looked to see Mateo smirking at her like he know exactly what she had been doing, because he definitely did.

“I’m here, sorry. I’ll take two bottles of Centzen and get the Moxs’ lovely new BD editor a drink of her choice.”

The women in question glanced over at her and seemed to decide she liked what she saw or was just curious enough to start up a conversation. “And just how did you figure that out? I could just be some rando off the street.”

V couldn’t help but grin. “Even if that was true you would still be lovely.” V was screaming at herself internally, what the hell was she doing? She had never tried this hard when trying to chat up a women, which wasn’t saying much honestly. Despite the confidence she portrayed while on the job when it came to chatting up women she was a mess. Misspeaking, tripping over her words and even just bungling things up were common for her. Abby had been an exception and she had kind of just fallen together.

“Alright, I’ll give you that one” the woman said with a smile. “How about the rest of it?”

V kept her grin up. Doing what she could to keep her confidence going. “New Mox member is also an easy one. The ink on your neck is still a little raw, maybe 2 days at best. Still itch?”

“A bit yeah. But I’m use to it.”

V let her eyes glide over the various tattoos over the woman’s exposed skin before meeting her eyes again. “Obviously.”

“Alright 2 for 2 then. Only one more to go.” she was more relaxed now. Resting her head on her hand as she looked at V.

“Again that was easy. Chip in your head is a DMS(5) HDB-4, not the newest thing on the market but has a high sync rate but you have to know what you’re doing or the feedback can be a real bitch. I can’t tell with the glove though. Would you mind if I take a closer look?"

The woman, V still didn’t know her name!!!, brought her hand up so V could get a better look. It only took V three seconds to recognize the glove model and her eyes widened and looked up at the woman. “Do you even know what you have here?” asked almost reverently.

The women finished her drink and flashed V a grin full of teeth. “Why don’t you tell me?”

“It’s a Tabori HK-47(6). These things are worth 4 times their weight in gold. The firmware was totally fucked by its designer who was pissed at being cut out of his position on the company board. Everything on it can be swapped out and since the firmware is only on the gloves you have the option to swap anything out on here so long as you know how to make the tech talk to each other. Mind if I see what you’ve done to it.”

“Sure. You seem to know what you’re talking about. You in the BD biz too?”

V shook her head. “Nah, just a tech junkie.” carefully taking the women's hand in her own, looking at the modifications and upgrades that had been added. “Wow, there’s nothing on here that hasn’t been touched. RAM, CPU, neural interface and feedback speed have been cranked up or swapped out for better models and the haptic interface points have been fine tuned to a razors edge.” V let go of the women's hand after she had finished looking it over, unfortunately as V pulled he own hand back the sleeve of her blazer caught on one of the glove joints and cause it to jerk slightly. “I’m sorry about that.” V said looking over the spot to check for damage.

“It’s fine, but you break it you buy it.”

“Rather buy you dinner.” V said without thinking only to freeze and look up at the womans face, thankfully she had only raised an eyebrow. “I said that out loud didn’t I?”

“Yep.” she said before the smile slid off her face. “And while I’m flattered I just got out of a relationship with an output who was toxic as fuck so I don’t feel comfortable jumping back into anything again right now.”

“What about just coffee? Nothing fancy, no expectations, just getting to know each other a bit as friends. And if things progress from there along the line then we go from there and if things get to uncomfortable you can just call the whole thing off.”

Her eyes went off to the side, as if asking Mateo silently for advice. V kept her eyes firmly off the two so as to give the woman the space to decide herself.

“Okay” she said taking a steadying breath. “I can handle that. I’m Judy by the way.”

“V.” she said with a smile. “And you don’t have to Judy,” fuck it was so nice to know her name. “I did kind of make things awkward by blurting that out a minute ago."

Just softly shook her head. “That’s fine. This could be what I need to move on from the past. Besides if Mateo tries to silently encourage this any more I’m afraid he might hurt himself.”

V looked over at Mateo who was silently mixing a drink and it looked to V as though he wasn’t paying attention. "I’ll take you’re word on that.” V said turning to Judy. “So was there any place in particular you wanted to meet up?”

Judy nodded. “There’s a place on the south side of Watson. Toms Dinner, by Mega building 10, has great synth-waffles. 11am on Saturday work for you?” she asked moving from her place at the bar.

V smiled, it was only Tuesday so that would be plenty of time to recover. “Saturday is preem. Here are my deets feel free to drop a call or text in-case anything pops up.”

“Thanks V. I gotta get back to work but it was nice chatting with you. Enjoy your night.”

“You too Judy.” V watched her her leave, the loose strap of her overalls swinging behind her like a cats tail.

“Mateo!” V nearly yelled once she was out of sight.

“Nope.” he answered without looking up from his drink mixing.

“You don’t even know what I was gonna say!”

“Gonna ask about Judy. Answer is 'nope'. Wanna learn about her? Ask her on your date.”

V, still as socially awkward as ever blushed all the way to the top of her ears. “Its not a date.”

Mateo rolled his eyes. “Fine. Ask her on your not-date.”

V rested her chin on the bar “Meanie. Got my Centzen?”

A bottle landed next to he head. “I’ll have a girl bring down the second one in a bit.”

“Thanks Mateo.” V grabbed her bottle and turned to leave but a hand on her shoulder held her up. Looking back she saw Mateo staring her down.

“Look V, I know I encouraged it and all to accept your invitation, but she’s still a Mox and we look after our own, so be sure to treat her well. Yeah?”

“I’ll do my best Mateo. Can’t promise nothing will happen but if something does I’ll do my best to set things right.”

“Thanks V, that's all I can ask. Now go have fun out there tonight.”

“No promises.” V left the bar with a smile, just in time to see a waitress drop off the second bottle of Tequila. Jackie of course was grinning like loon when she got there, making her roll her eyes. “Wipe that grin off your face you gonk.” she said as she sat down.

That just had the opposite effect and caused his grin to widen. “So when the wedding _chika/girl_? Should I tell _mamá/_ _mom_ to start setting another setting another table for when you can drag your ass to dinner?”

“I hardly know the woman Jackie.” V said with an eyeroll as she poured herself a shot.

“Don’t give me that, I saw how you were looking at her. Couldn’t take your eyes off her. Like with me when Misty came back from Nepal.”

“How’re you two doing anyways? Sorta surprised that you didn’t drag her in with you tonight.”

“Wanted to but she has to open the shop early today and needs her rest.”

“Nice. Still kinda surprised she was able to roll with the whole mysticism thing.”

"Yep. But don’t knock it till you try it V. I’ve been taking a lot of her advice and it’s really been helping me out.”

“Sure the home-made candles she makes that can cover up any smell this city can throw at it helps.”

“Her best selling items. Can’t keep em on the shelves. Had to hire some help to get production up.”

“So, anything else happening?” V downed another shot.

“Nothing personal wise.”

“And professionally?”

Jackie made a so-so gesture with his hand. "Things between the Valentino and Maelstrom are heating up. Plenty of Eddies to be made if you don’t catch a bullet. How bout on your end? You able to set things straight with that OP?”

V downed another shot and saw movement from the corned of her eye. “Speak of the devil.”

“Huh?”

“It went to shit actually.” V downed another shot. “Need you to adjust your jacket just enough to show you’re carrying and let me do the talking. If it looks like they’re gonna try and take me step up and intimidate them. They won’t want to make a scene, use that to your advantage. Now act natural.” Jackie, bless his heart, did exactly as V said despite the confusion in his eyes which cleared up quickly when 4 Arasaka goons showed up.

“Evening fellas. I’d offer you a drink but you don’t seem the type to drink on the job.”

The Corpo closest to her was unimpressed by her banter. His eyes cut over to Jackie whom he disregarded immediately. Goons like this always assumed they were top dog in almost any room they entered, even if they were nothing more then ground meat most of the time. “Director Jenkins gave you a shard before you left Arasaka Tower. You will hand it over immediately.”

“Ah. I figured Abernathy might send someone out to collect that, thought I’d have a few more hours till you showed up though to be honest.” V saw a twitch of surprise flash over the mans face and couldn’t help but grin. “Don’t be so shocked, I’m the best in Counter-Intelligence for a reason, had your girl Marcus pegged in less then a week. Her still being there is more because Jenkins is being a dip-shit and not her espionage ability. So I have no problem handing over the shard but you’ll need to provide proof that your from Arasaka.”

V saw a malicious glint in the manes eye, most likely he thought he had one up on V.

The poor Summer child.

His eyes flashed red and V braced herself for the shutdown, good thing too as the vertigo alone could have toppled her.

“The shard. Now.” he seemed much more self-important now that V had officially been fired.

V desperately wanted to say ‘no hablo ingles’ but she had had her fun and just really wanted to do home and sleep off the hangover so she took out the shard case and handed it off.

“If that’s all fellas I really need to see a ripper about the chrome you just shut down. Let HR know I’ll have em sent off in a day or two yeah? V tried to stand but was immediately shoved back down.

“Not so fast street-rat. Abernathy is bound to be more appreciative if we deal with a piece of trash like you. Only way you leave is with us.”

V locked eyes with Jackie who had migrated closer to the rest of the ‘Saka goons while they had been focused on V.

“ _Hey, lets not be hasty./Oye, no nos apresuremos.”_ He said, drawing their attention.(7) “Think you boys have forgotten just how far from home you are. Not Sure this _barrio’s/neighborhood’s_ your style, let alone a healthy option. " _Is it clear?/_ _¿Queda claro?/_ ”

“Is that a threat?” one of the goons asked, trying to hide his nerves.

“Well, you start shootin’ maybe we join in, huh? Before you know it, somebody might die tonight.”

“We have what we came for.” the leaded spoke as he stepped away from V. “ It’ll do for now.” His pathetic attempt at intimidation would have had V laughing hysterically if she was in better condition.

Jackie kept up the intimidation. Keeping no more then a foot between himself and the final ‘Saka goon as he backed away and finally turned to leave.

V tried to stand again and would have taken a tumble if Jackie hadn’t moved to steady her.

“Thanks Jackie.”

“You’re gonna have to tell me later what the fuck that was.”

“Short version? I was just fired.”

“Shit. We’re gonna have to get you to Vik then huh?”

“Yep. Lets get going, it’s only gonna get worse from here.”

Jackie hauled V over his shoulder a bit higher to make the trip a bit easier with V deftly grabbing both bottles of Tequila by the neck as they passed

“You gonna be okay on Saturday V?” looking over she saw Mateo staring at her intently.

“Wouldn’t miss it.”

“Hold you to that. Stay safe out there V.

“You too Mateo.”

* * *

Yep, so that’s the epilogue. Let me know what ya’ll think.

Next chapter is mostly done and just needs to be typed out since I write this down with pen and paper then have to type it out.

Hopefully I remembered the tags but if not this will NOT be a ‘slow burn’ between V and Judy. I’ll be pouring some gas on that fire to get it roaring. I’ll be throwing bits of them doing not-dates and beyond in flashbacks and omakes.

(1)Name the reference first and you get a walk on roll a few chapter in as a client.

(1) So I accidentally capped nod and couldn’t help myself when I noticed on my proofread. Anyone who gets the reference without looking it up will now and forever be my friend. :)

(3)Google ‘Mohawk ponytail shaved sides woman’ and you should spot it in the first few images.

(4)deferred maintenance is pretty much saying ‘I’ll fix it tomorrow.” but you keep saying it for months on end. Like when there’s a big fucking pothole in the middle of your street but the city hasn’t fixed it in 6 years cause it’s too busy giving tax brakes to multi-billion dollar companies who are bribing them so they don’t have to pay and….where was I going with this?

(5)DMS(Diverse Media Systems) in a company in the Cyberpunk world that help bring BD to the mass market. The model is something I just made up. Also don’t be too impressed with me I looked that up while I was writing this.

(6)Kristoffer Tabori is the voice actor for HK-47 in Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic.

(7) Really liked Jackie's interaction with the Arasaka goons. You know from the promo that he and V are close but before this they’re more like causal acquaintances. Him standing up for V like that shows their friendship is deeper then that.


	2. 8 Months Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We hit the time skip and get on to the heist intro

So wow...that’s a lot of Kudos, comments, feedback and views. Really appreciate it all.

So this one really got away from me. Was gonna keep going but I was already at 10k Words and didn’t want it to stretch out too long so hopefully I didn’t make this a big chapter with a bunch of nothing happening.

Made a change in chapter one, nothing big so you won’t have to reread it unless you want to. Someone one discord pointed out that V being adopted by Mama Welles would see her name change to Welles as well. Smacked myself on the forehead for not catching that.

If you spot any spelling or grammatical mistakes feel free to call me out on it and leave a comment or message me with a copy/paste of the sentence and I’ll get it squared up.

And to those that subbed, did y'all get notifications every time I edited the story and fixed stuff? Not sure how AO3 does its notifications and don’t wanna be filling your inboxes.

I left a gift for y’all at the end of this chapter.

**8 Months Later**

“This the right place?”

V looked to her right with a raised eyebrow at her brother who immediately looked away. “Heh heh. Sorry.”

V grinned and shoulder-bumped him. “All good Jackie, just giving you a hard time. Lets get to work eh?”

Jackie returned the grin. “Right.”

They both stepped out of Vs car and closed the car doors. The duo had made a deal once V had recovered enough to do merc work. Jackie would handle the weapons, ammo and medical supplies while V would save up for a car since all of the above were equally important if you wanted to be a merc in Night City. The car was Vs baby, a Quadra Type-66 ‘Javelina’ Model. She had found it by pure chance during a gig where some Maelstroms shits had taken up residence in a junkyard and with NCPD sitting on their ass the owner had set things up with a fixer to get rid of them. Once the job had been done she had approached the owner with a deal, her fee plus 1000 Eddies for the car and 2 months to get it going out of the yard. It had taken her 6 weeks and more trial and error then she had expected but the grin that had spread across her face when it turned over was still firmly in place when she pulled in-front of the Coyote.

When Jackie and Mama Welles had come out to see what all the fuss was about their reactions had been polar opposites. Jackie had been all smiles and back-slaps, askin’ when he could take it for a spin. Mama Welles had turned her eyes skyward and crossed herself, most likely asking for guidance or strength.

V was willing to be on both.

That had been the first and last time she would drive it for another month as she was able to admit just getting it started and not crashing on the way to the Coyote had been a small miracle. So with many MANY fake tears and a napkin in hand she wave goodbye to the car as Jackie's friend Miguel towed it off to his shop for repairs and bodywork.

She had gotten a smack to the back of the head for her ‘gonkness’.

When it finally returned to her it was in the wonderful condition it was in now. Completely restored body and frame, and a shiny black paint job with green pin-striping along the outside of every panel.

“Aye chika, admire your ride later, we got work to do.”

“Sorry.” V double checked the clip in her Unity .45 and the spares on her belt, 5 clips total. Perfect. “Ready when you are Jackie.”

V followed him to the elevator taking in the sights and, _ugh_ , smells. Old and broken furniture were in several corners and piled up by a dumpster that itself was overflowing with garbage. V couldn’t call the elevator fast enough since it was right by the pile.

Luck was on their side as the doors opened as soon as she pressed the button and the 2 stepped in with the doors closing as soon as they stepped in. Vs optics lit up as the elevator ascended on its own with a familiar logo.

“Having fun in there Bug?” she asked teasingly.

“ _ **Oodles.”**_ came a deadpan voice over the Holo.

“So now that we’re on site can we finally get the deets? Don’t get why wanted everything so hush-hush.” Jackie wasn’t a fan of gigs like this.

“ _ **Cause the client paid for it.”**_

“Fair. So what you got for us Bug?”

“ _ **Target is Sandra Dorset, her Biomon went silent thirty-two minutes ago. Last co-ords put her in this building, eighth floor right side.”**_

“Don’t suppose you can get a room number too?” V asked

“ _ **Nope. Can only work with what I’m given. Anything else?**_

“Yeah, I’ll take two tamales add rice and a NiCola. Anything for you Jackie?”

“Same but with a Spunky Monkey.”

The two were able to keep their composure for 3 seconds before they cracked up, laughing like hyenas.

“ _ **We are so fucked.”**_

“All in good fun Bug.” V said.

*** Ding ***

“Right then, fun time over.”

V and Jackie moved in sync, Jackie taking the lead with V at his back. She scanned the hallway with her optics and frowned.

“Bug, all of these doors are off the NET. Got anything on your end?” she waved an old woman back into her apartment as they passed.

“ _ **Hmm. Only thing I’m seeing is at the end of the hall. Just have to cross out fingers that it’s the way in.”**_

“Lets hope so. Really don’t want to have to start kicking down doors.”

V had to agree with Jackie on that. 1, rude. And 2 it would murder any element of surprise they had in the middle of a street with a shovel.

“ _ **Got the door V or do you need me to handle it?”**_

V scanned the door and grinned as it popped open. “Good on this end Bug. Keep an eye out just in case.”

“ _ **Will do. Area you’re entering though is nearly a dead zone. Got a few appliances but no cameras or mics to speak of.”**_

“Thanks for the heads up. Heading in now.” Jackie went in first with V right behind, she had barely made it 4 steps in before the smell hit her; antiseptic, blood and rot.

Scavs, cause why wouldn’t it be?

The room was mostly barren, some furniture and appliances were there but nothing of use really until they hit the second room.

“Shit V, that out target?” Jackie called from the next room.

V was right behind him as he spotted the corpse. She was young, maybe even V’s age, she had been cut open from the neck down to her pelvis and her chest had been split open. Several of her organs had been removed and given the way Scavs operated they could have been ‘ganic or synth. Her optics had been removed as well, cradles and all.

Looking closer V was relatively relieved to see no bruising around the admittedly rough eye removal, at least they had flat-lined her before cutting her open. Cold comforts and all that.

There were still a few implants left in her but none of them were a match for what they had on their target so V just took a scan of her and uploaded it to the NCPD database. With any luck there would be an open persons case, but she doubted it.

“This ain’t her. Typical back-alley repros and install. Our girl had Corpo immunity so shes rocking top shelf gear and install.” V took a quick look around the room, there was nothing to speak of really, just some medical equipment and some clear plastic sheeting hanging on the walls and floors.

“Must be the place then huh? Fuckin’ Scavs, really hope we ain’t too late.” Jackie said as he popped the manual lock on the only door forward.

“Here’s hopin’.”

Jackie peered through the open door and looked back with a grin. “Just one in there, why don’t you do the honors?”

“Awe. And I didn’t get you anything.” V said back with a mock baby voice.

“ _ **Kill me now.”**_

V and Jackie shared a grin before getting serious again. V holstered her gun and pulled out a knife as she crept forward, silent as a ghost. The Scav had his back to her as he filled a cooler with water and didn’t even hear her coming. A hand over his mouth was immediately followed by a knife in the side of his neck. With the blade forward she pushed, cutting through his trachea, voice-box and artery. It was messy, spraying blood all over in front of her, but it was quick and quiet(1). She dumped the body in the cooler, coloring the water red almost instantly, and whipped the blood off her knife on a smock hanging on the wall.

“It’s scary how good you are at that sometimes.” Jackie said as he walked up behind her.

V rolled her eyes. “Didn’t spend all my time in ‘Saka Tower Jackie. Had to do field work too.”

“ _Sé que sé./I know. I know._ Just still getting use to it you know? You never really could tell me what you got up to there, but to see some of it first hand is...unsettling. _”_

“No worries Jackie. Don’t like most of it myself but if it gets us home safe n’ sound at the end of the night I’ll take it.

Jackie shook himself out of whatever mood he seemed to be building to. “You’re right V. Lets get this done and go home.

Crisis averted, the duo made their was past a small bathroom. V took the lead and carefully peeked around the corner and hit one of the Scavs with a _Ping_ before quickly ducking back.

“So how many we lookin’ at?”

V pulled her personal link out of the back of her neck(2) and handed it to Jackie who plugged it in his own port so she could share data.

“Seven total.” she started pointing them all out. “I’ll take out the three at the doorway with my wires and toss a Flash Bang. Once that goes off come in guns blazing while I sneak off to the right and take out the solo in the back. Sound good?”

“Works for me _chika/girl_ , lets do this.” He said as he removed the link and let it retract back into Vs neck.

V pulled a length of wire from her wrist and activated the heated edge, making the wire glow and dull orange. Viks man had come though in a big way. Top-of-the-line mono-wire with room to mod and fiddle around with if she wanted. Guy still hadn’t called in that favor.

She came around the corner into the room in a crouch to hide from the rest of the Scavs view. The move to take out the three in-front of her was practiced and precise, removing their heads in a single flick of her wrist and an armed flash bang flying through the air before they hit the ground. The high pitched explosion and bright light was followed quickly by Jackie rounding the corner with twin pistols in hand opening fire. Curses and yelling met his arrival but V was already making use of the distraction as she moved through a hole in the wall that lead to another bathroom. The only exit was yet another hole, but this one had the perfect line of sight on the solo Scav who was cursing in Russian, because of course he was Russian. It was a practiced motion to zip her wire back in, draw her pistol, aim, and pull the trigger. Putting a hollow point through the Scavs eye and painting the wall behind him with the former contents of his skull. The show was so easy she almost felt sorry for him.

Almost. Fuck Scavs.

Peeking around the corner into the main room she saw Jackie plug the last Scav standing. “You all good in there Jackie?”

“Yep, I’m good V. You?”

“Nova.” she said waddling through the hole. “Lets find our target and bounce.”

Another popped lock lead to what was most likely their storage room given the amount of weapons, ammo, and assorted ill gotten gains.

“Hell of a bonus, eh V?” Jackie asked walking in first.

V however was frowning as she scanned various weapons while they made their way through the room. “No can do Jackie. All of these are marked as stolen Corpo property. Gotta leave it for NCPD to pick up.

“ _Mierda./Shit._ Well, lets go save our damsel and get out of here. I’m getting hungry.”

V popped the final lock and cursed “ _¡Hijo de puta, Jackie cúbreme!/Mother fucker, Jackie cover me!”_ V yelled as she rushed into the bathroom.

“ _¡Lo tienes chica!/You got it girl!”_

In 3 strides V was at a bathtub filled with ice water that held 2 bodies, one male and already dead and another female, their target, still alive.

“How's she lookin’ V?”

“Jacking in now!” V ran a quick diagnostic with several windows flashing over her HUD to make sure this was their target and that she was, in fact, alive. “Sandra Dorset confirmed. Trauma Team: Platinum Grade.”

“Platinum? Fuck, they shoulda came flying to the rescue if she fucking sneezed, what gives?”

“ _ **Probably a jammer. Check her neuromod.”**_

“Got it.” V said yanking a shard out of Dorset's neuroslot. “Damn these fucks move fast. That exploit only hit the streets last week.” V pulled the woman out of the tub, continuing to keep an eye on the woman's vitals as a Trauma Team notification and timer showed on her own HUD. “Three minutes till Trauma shows up Jackie. Bug how’re cameras looking?”

“ _ **Everything’s looking good outside. Doesn’t look like they were able to get a message out before you cacked ‘em.”**_

“Good just gotta wait till-” warnings flashed across Vs HUD as Dorset started to convulse on the floor. “Shit, Jackie! Air-Hypo now!”

“ _ **What’s going on?”**_

“Catch chica!”

V snatcher the Hypo out of the air and slammed the needle into Dorset chest and pressed the plunger to administer the steroids and half a dozen other chemicals. It only took a moment to kick in and for the woman to clam and the warnings to clear.

“ _ **Someone talk to me.”**_

“Target went into shock, she’s stable for now though so crisis averted.” V checked the Trauma timer. “Sixty seconds till TT shows up. I’m takin’ her to the balcony.”

Disconnecting her personal jack and making sure the jammer was firmly tucked between her fingers V carefully lifted Dorset to the balcony. She heard the AV well before she saw it as it came screaming around a corner only to brake hard and come to a stop only 10 feet down the balcony from her.

A four man squad disembarked from the AV before it had even come to a complete stop. 3 of them had automatic weapons while a 4th, the designated life-saver, had a pistol which he stowed as he came forward and placed a collapsible stretcher.

“Place the patient on the stretcher.” came the modulated demand.

V did as she was told and stepped back immediately, knowing TT could get testy if she lingered.

Looking at one of the guards she held up the shard from earlier. “This shard has the malware that was preventing your tech form calling out. You wanna take it or do you want me to smash it?”

V could almost taste the indecision. On one hand taking it was against protocol. On the other it could save TT a lot of liability in the near future. He decided liability was more important and held out his hand.

“Give it here.”

V made sure both hands were visible as she stepped forward and dropped the chip in his hand before quickly skipping back.

“Thanks.” he said as he walked backwards into the AV.

V raised an eyebrow. TT was notorious for being hard ass’ “No problem chooms.” V said as the AV speed away.

She walked back inside to see Jackie had gathered up all the ammo and Eddies he could find.

“Hey V. Three way split sees us walkin’ away with an extra twenty-three hundred each and I did a fifty-fifty split of the ammo for the two of us already.”

“Preem. Hey Bug, cool if I just transfer your share form my account and keep the hard-backs?”

“ _ **Works for me. If that’s all you need I’ll see you in the near future.”**_

“Later Bug.” V let out a jaw-cracking yawn(3) and rolled her neck, enjoying the pops and cracks that followed. “Lets get this to my car, I’m beat.”

“Speaking of, mind if I borrow your ride?” Jackie asked as he grabbed two of the ammo containers.

“Huuuh.” V made sure to portray the maximum amount of ‘are you serious’ possible with the tone.

“I got a date with Misty, can’t take the metro. How would that look?”

“ _No te preocupes hermano, te tengo cubierto./Don’t worry bro, I got you covered.”_

Jackie’s face lit up. _“Eres la mejor hermana./Thanks sis, you’re the best.”_

“Yeah, yeah. Lets get out of here.”

Jackie reached the elevator first and hit the button, making the doors open immediately. “Should probably give Wakako a call on the Holo. Let her know the jobs done.”

V blinked. How tired was she that she had forgotten to do that? A quick scroll through her contacts and the call was made.

“ _ **Ah V how are you this fine evening? I assume the contract had been**_ _ **dealt**_ _ **with**_?”

“Of course it was. Should be hearing back from the clients in short order, might be a little emotional though. Target was in an ice-water bath in a Scav den so she was in pretty rough shape when TT showed up. Alive but rough.”

“ _ **Excellent. I knew I could count on the two of you. Your payment is ready for you whenever you wish to collect it. But I am guessing home is where you wish to be, word has it that the NCPD will be closing down Watson tonight in able to make doing a sweep of the area easier in retaliation for the deaths of several of their officers last night**_ (4).”

V rubbed at her shoulder on hearing that. “Joy. Thanks for the warning Wakako. I’ll be down to collect once the lock-down is done with. Jackie will probably make it tonight though.”

“ _ **Of course V, take care tonight.**_ ”

“You too.” V ended the call just as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. The smell from the dumpster made her stomach roll this time. “Words out NCPD is putting Watson on lock-down. If I’m sleeping in my bed tonight we better put it in fifth.” V said as they approached her car.

“No problem chica, I’m driving. Least I could do is give you a lift home.”

Just as V got into the passenger seat a notification popped up on her HUD.

‘ **System Malfunction Detected’**

That explained it.

The drive to Watson was blessedly quiet, for Night City anyways, so the headache building behind her eyes wasn’t really bothering her. Jackie, as excitable as ever was going on about how much he loved the place and all of it’s ‘Legends’. He was such a fan-boy. V was only half listening, watching the streets and buildings go by.

“So whaddu say V? Wanna stop and get a tight bite?”

V couldn’t stop the small smile from spreading on her face, some things would never change. “They’re locking down Watson Jack, remember?”

“I know, but you could always crash at my place tonight.”

Vs smile turned noticeably more friendly and Jackie couldn’t help but feel it was _too_ friendly.

“Jackie. Brother in all ways that matter. Choom of chooms. Quickest shot on the streets and in the sheets.”

“Hey!”

“If I have to sleep in a cold be tonight I’m telling Misty you’re disrupting my Aura Pattern.”

“You wouldn’t dare.” There was a slight tremble in his voice. The man was so smitten with Misty that all it took was a single disappointed look from the woman for him to crumble like a house of cards. Course she had no room to talk on that front either.

V gave him a deadpan stare. “Try me.”

“Right then. Watson it is.”

If V noticed the engine rev just a bit more then a minute ago she made no mention of it.

A few minutes later they were crossing the bridge to Watson, just in time too as V saw several NCPD SUV s and a flatbed with a walker block off the road half way across the bridge. After that it was another 10 minutes to reach her apartment and V couldn’t help the happy sigh that left her as Jackie pulled out around to the back.

“Thanks Jackie.” V said with a fist bump and hand slap. “Tell Misty I said hi.”

“ _Tu tambien hermana./You too sis.”_

V stepped out of the car and up the fire escape to the second floor. A quick scan from the door saw it open for her and show Nibbles waiting at the entrance.

‘ _Meow.’_

“Hey bud. Everything been good while I’ve been out?” She asked rhetorically as she entered the apartment.

Nibbles gave another meow as he wound himself around her feet.

Looking inside and past the kitchenette V spotted her output, and love of her life, Judy Alvarez sitting at her workbench tinkering with a custom diving bot that she had been working on since before the two had met. With her head bobbing to whatever music she had playing on their personal NET, she probably hadn’t heard V come in.

Her grin turning devious V circled behind her and was just about to tickle her sides-

“Hey you.” Judy said happily with a wide grin as she spun in her chair to look at V.

V let her arms drop with a pout, fun thoroughly ruined by her output.

“Don’t be like that.” Judy said with a giggle. “Come on, tell me about your day.” she finished with a pat on her lap.

V had no problem complying, though having so much more chrome then Judy she was significantly heavier then her output so had to settle for kneeling on the floor and putting her head in the woman’s lap. Still not a bad prospect.

“So?” Judy prompted as she started running a hand over the buzzed hair on the side of Vs head.

“Not too exciting.” she started, loving the feeling of Judy's hand. “Jackie and I were able to get on site of about twelve NCPD contracts before Wakako called us up with an emergency contract. Nothing serious, just a simple rescue and recovery. Barely a handful of Scavs there and Trauma took the target off out hands by the end of it.”

“So you’re alright then. No bullet holes or stab wounds.”

V got the fuzzies at Judy’s tone. While the woman did worry about her safety, she still trusted and respected her enough to not try and convince her to take up a different job. She would still fret over her though if she was injured.

“Well none of those.” V said carefully.

“V.”

Just because V had been expecting the tone didn’t mean she was any less frantic to answer. “But. But, I was gonna say ‘but’.” she said quickly as she got up.

“You are so whipped.” Judy said fondly as she stood up and kissed V on the forehead.

“Am I now.” V said playfully. “And who spent two weeks bringing me breakfast in bed because she spent three days doing her best to imitate a cave troll while editing BDs? What was her name? Punchin’ booty? Punchin’ cutie? No wait, Punchin’ Judy with the cutie booty! That was it.”

Judy laughed, a sound V would never get enough of. “Gonk.”

“Yeah, but I’m your gonk.” V said while grabbing Judy’s hips.

‘ _System Malfunction Detected’_ V winced as a lance of pain shot through her skull.

“V, what’s wrong?”

“Just a neurovirus.” she said quietly “Had to jack into out rescue target to make sure she was stable. Only time it coulda happened.”

“Come on then.” Judy said taking Vs hand. “We’ll get that taken care of. Then a shower and bed.”

“Fiiiine.” V allowed Just to lead her to the second bedroom of their apartment. 1/3 of the space was taken up by Judy's home BD editing station that she used for her side jobs and for when Susie Q was being too much of a bitch to deal with. In the far corner of the room there was a small terminal V had bought for occasions like this, low threat virus’ that could be easily scanned for and zapped. Anything worse and V would have to pay a visit to Vik as the technical expertise need for that was beyond either woman’s purview.

“And done.”

V’s eyes snapped open. When had she fallen asleep? Was it before or after she had jacked in?

“Come on, _mi calabacita/my_ _zucchini_ _,_ just a quick shower then bed.”

“ _Si enfermer_ _a./Yes nurse._ ” V mumbled sleepily

The shower was quick and even if V had wanted to escalate things, she was just didn’t have the energy. Her output had even had to help her un-braid and wash her hair. The 10 or so minutes seemed to stretch on for hours until finally she crashed into bad with Judy getting in right behind her.

“ _Quería ser la cuchara grande./_ _Wanted to be the big spoon._ ” V said barely clinging to consciousness.

“ _Quizás la próxima vez. Buenas noches amor./ Maybe next time. Good night love.”_ Judy said into the back of V’s neck.

“ _Te amo./ Love you.”_ V said finally succumbing to sleep.

* * *

V hissed when blades of light shone in through the window, eviscerating any attempt she might make at going back to sleep. She still tried though but gave it up as a pointless after a few minutes. Peeking through the blankets she saw Judy’s side of the bed empty.

With a grunt she rolled over, and promptly fell off the bed in a heap.

‘Yep. Wonderful way to start off the day.’ V thought sarcastically. Checking her HUD V saw it was just before noon and Judy didn’t have work tonight till 4 and given the silence in the apartment she was probably out. With a groan V stood up and stretched out, enjoying the pops and cracks that echoed through her back and joints.

She left the bedroom and looked at the message board that was set up next to the door, that had been an idea of Judy's. Both women had hectic schedules at the best of times so one day Judy had brought home a dry erase board and some markers so they could leave little notes and messages for each other. It would be mostly little love notes, what their plans were for the day or badly written poetry. The latter was a specialty of Vs.

_Hey babe, got a call from Evie so I left early to meet her._

_You still had a bit of a fever to I let you sleep. Let me know_

_when you wake up._

_-Love ~~Booty~~ Judy._

V only knew ‘Evie’ a.k.a Evelyn Parker from the stories Judy had told her from her time at Clouds, she really hoped that she would finally get to meet the woman as she was sure the two of them would get along well and you could never have too many chooms in Night City.

She sent Judy a text to have fun and that she would be taking the day off. She also flung off a text to Jackie asking about his date and when she would be getting her car back.

Making her way to the bathroom V started the shower and stripped down. The fever she had from earlier making her feel gross and in need of a good scrub. V had just stepped in and started to lather when her phone started, seeing who it was she answered immediately.

“ _ **Hey you.**_ ” Judy said with a smile.

“Hey yourself.” V said purposefully thrusting her chest forward and cocking her hips to the side. “Need something?”

Judy's. eyes immediately darkened with lust, V knew exactly how to push her buttons and when to get the best reactions And for every reaction there was and equal and opposite action in bed.

“So did you need something babe?” V made a show of bending down to wash her legs. “Or would you prefer to watch?”

She smirked as she heard Judy take a stuttering breath. “ _ **You are so going to get it tonight.**_ ”

“Promises promises.” V singsonged before breaking out into giggles. “So what’s up babe, calling to check in on me?”

The question seemed to bring Judy back to the present and V saw her glance off camera. “ _ **I know you said you were taking the day off but Ev**_ _ **e**_ _ **has a job she needs some help with and was hoping you could come by Lizz**_ _ **y**_ _ **’s to hear her out.**_ ”

V shut off the shower and sat on the edge of the tub. Judy sounded nervous in a way she had only really heard once from the woman. “Do you want me to? You sound nervous about this.”

“ _ **I’m nervous about every job you take V. But from what she’s told me so far? This is big.**_ ” V saw Judy hold up her hand off screen, as if to tell them to ‘be quiet’ and took a steadying breath. “ _ **Come over and hear her out.**_ _ **Find out everything you can and if you’re not**_ _ **one hundred percent**_ _ **certain you can pull it off tell her no. I sure as hell won’t hold it against you and neither will she. Hell, it might even make her take things a bit more cautiously going forward.**_ ” The last part had been directed off screen, at Evelyn most likely.

“Alright. When and where?”

“ **Lizzy’s tonight after it opens. Q is in a mood tonight so you coming by before then is** _ **n**_ _ **o buena/not good.**_ _”_

“ _Mi corazón sangra./My heart bleeds.”_

“ _ **I know, but this way at least she can’t just barge in on you without reason since it could hurt the clubs rep.**_ ”

“Fine. I’ll drop by at six thirty and hear out Evelyn. Worst case I say no and point her in the direction of someone who can pull this off.”

“ _ **Gracias**_ _ **mi calabacita. Te amo./**_ _ **Thanks my zucchini.**_ _ **Love you.**_ _”_

“ _Yo también te amo./_ _Love you too.”_ The call was ended on Judy’s end and V started the shower up again. She was just stepping out when her phone rang again.

“Hey Jackie hows things going?” V answered, making sure the call was ‘audio only’. “Things turn out good with Misty last night? ‘M I gonna have to sanitize my back seats?”

“ _ **¡Vete a la mierda!/Fuck you!**_ _”_ Jackie said with a laugh.

“That’s Judy’s job.”

“ _ **Moving on before this escalates.**_ ”

V grinned. It brought her no small amount of amusement of just how uncomfortable bringing up her sex life made Jackie.

“ _ **You got plans for the day? Thought we might**_ _ **be able to pick up some work today once I bring your ride over.**_ ”

“Nah. Was gonna take the day off. Haven’t cleaned my gear this week and was gonna fiddle with my deck.”

“ _ **You’re slackin’ chica.**_ ”

“Tell me about it. If you want, feel free to hang onto the car for the rest of the afternoon that’s fine. Need it back by six though.”

“ _ **Thanks. Gonna go visit your girl?**_ ”

“Kinda. Old friend of hers has a gig needs handling and wants my opinion on things. Not the first time its happened.”

“ _ **That’s all you did the first month outta ‘Saka. Once people learned you could plan AND shoot we were rolling in gig. Glad things settled down after a bit though. Eddies were nice, but we could barely get a moment to ourselves.**_ ”

“Don’t remind me.” V said as she took out her gun cleaning kit. “Had to turn my phone off most nights if I wanted to sleep.”

“ _ **The good old days eh?**_ ” Jackie said with mock fondness. “ _ **Gigs everyday. Excitement. Action-**_ ”

V cut him off. “Getting shot at, coming home sore everyday with bullet, stab and shrapnel wounds.”

“ _ **Hows that any different from now?**_ ”

“Didn’t have Judy to come home to at night.” she followed up with the statement with 2 clicks and the sound of metal on metal as she removed the slide from her Unity.

“ _ **Can’t argue with that. I’ll let you get to work on your kit, give you a call when I’m on my way over.**_ ”

“Stay safe out there Jackie.”

“ _ **Always.**_ ”

V ended the call and set to work cleaning her gun and other bits of her gear. Grenades were carefully scanned for damage and physically rendered harmless until she needed them. Her three pistols; two .45 Unity's and a 9mm Liberator were cleaned and reassembled. Her tac vest was restocked with ammo, meds and the two knives she kept as a backup were cleaned and sharpened.

Next came a needle and thread to patch up any rips, tears and in one case a through and through bullet hole that hadn’t hit her some how. Only one shirt was beyond salvaging and a pair of jeans was turned into jorts(5).

Looking at the clock it was only 3pm, that should be plenty of time to get through most of her next task of cataloging all the weapons she had klept from their previous owners while running NCPD contracts. A perk of the job let her, or anyone with an NCPD sub-contractor license, to take possession of any weapon, ammo or explosive that didn’t pertain to the crime in progress. It took a bullshit amount of paperwork but she was good at that thanks to her time at Arasaka. The template helps too.

She was about 70% complete when a call interrupted her.

“ _ **Hey chica, only a few blocks away. Ready to go?**_ ”

V looked at the clock. 5:57. Time flies. “Thanks Jackie, you gonna need a ride home?”

“ _ **Nah,**_ _ **called for a cab. It’s all good.”**_

“Alright, if you’re sure. I’ll be ready and meet you outside in a few.” Ending the call V stood and stretched. Doing paperwork for hours at a time was something she would never enjoy. Walking outside later she had changed into a bright purple t-shirt, blue jeans and synth-leather jacket to hide her shoulder holster. Rule number one of being a merc in Night City, whether you’re getting a NiCola from the corner store or taking out the trash always be armed and ready to go.

Jackie was already there and leaning on her car. “Make any decent scratch?” she asked as she approached.

“Can’t complain.” he said with a shrug and handed her the security chip. “Bit of a slow day I guess.” Just then his cab pulled up. “There’s my ride V. Meters running so I’mma scamper. Have fun tonight.”

“You too.” she called after him.

V frowned as the cab took off. Jackie was a bit too eager to leave and seemed a bit put out. Something must’ve happened out there today. She’d sit down with him and figure it out if things kept up like this for more then a few days. In the mean time, she had an appointment to keep.

Her Javalina roared to life at the push of the ignition button and she sped off. Traffic this time of night was shit.

* * *

Evelyn Parker watched as patrons kept pouring in even 20 minutes after Lizzy’s had opened. Things hadn’t changed much since she was last here; same music, same lights and signs, same horny idiots. At least Mateo’s drink making skills were still top notch as always.

“So when will this output of yours get here? It’s already half after.” she looked over at her best friend Judy with a raised eyebrow.

“Relax Ev. She’ll be here, just gotta have a little patience. ‘Sides, thought we were having fun just hanging out and catching up?”

“We are. Guess I’m just anxious is all.”

“Relax Ev, I may be biased when saying this, but V is the best this city has to offer. Has fixers blowing up her phone constantly with gigs they need done.”

“Yet the fixers I’ve talked to have no idea who she is.”

“V likes her privacy.” Judy took a swig of her Spunky Monkey that Mateo had graciously put a shot of Bourbon(6) in. “Merc work is dangerous and V’s made no shortage of enemies so she’ll only work with fixers she trusts and she’ll know will keep her involvement quiet.

“I get that” Evelyn said as she lit up a cigarette. “Just wish I knew what I’m getting into.”

“Don’t.”

Evelyn looked over at Judy who was staring at her intently.

“Don’t needle or barb or prod or poke or anything that you would do in a situation like this normally to manipulate someone. V will see through it as the manipulation tactic that it is and your relationship with me will only get you so far and if you try to push it she’ll just walk out.” Judy took a breath. “And if she does that then so will I.”

Evelyn closed her eyes. Being able to read people so well she could see how much it hurt her friend to say that and do so seriously. “So no manipulation tactics. Any other advice to not screw this up with her?” she asked taking a long drag of her smoke. This conversation had gotten heavy, fast.

“Be honest.” Judy answered immediately. “If she asks you a question answer it completely. There’s no such thing as too much information for her when a gig is concerned. Even if you think there’s no relevance to it. She’ll keep quiet about anything you talk about.”

“Right so no manipulations and total honesty. The two things I’m best at.”

“Just treat her like me when I’m armed and you’ll be fine.”

Evelyn took a final drag before putting out her smoke. “So what’s she look like? Tall? Muscled? Chrome on every exposed surface of he skin?”

Judy hid a smile behind her drink. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

Evelyn hummed. “So how have things been with Susie? From what I heard while you were talking to your girl she doesn’t seem to fond her.”

“That’s a massive understatement. From the get go she saw V as a distraction to my work, doesn’t help that V is constantly questioning her decisions and authority.” Judy’s eyes cut over to Evelyn “Bit like someone else I know.”

“Sounds like we’ll get along swimmingly then. Seen her yet?”

“Nope.” Judy chugged the rest of her drink. “I’ll let you know when I do though.”

“If she lets you see her that is.”

A shiver shot down Judy’s spine at the very familiar voice whispering in her ear. Before she could reply she was swiftly yanked off her stool with an ‘eep’ dipped low and suddenly found that nothing of importance was going on in the world other then this moment.

* * *

Evelyn had caught it by pure chance. A woman had practically materialized next to Judy before whispering something in her ear and whisking her out of her chair, dipping her low and kissing her deeply. A kiss, in Evelyn’s opinion, that was borderline obscene. And coming from a Doll of her experience was saying something.

“If you’re going to want to separate them with anything less then a crowbar you had better do it soon.”

Evelyn looked at Mateo from over her should with a raised brow. “That happen often?”

“In the main area? No. Too much of a chance of Susie catching them. But the back hall? Second floor, dressing area and Judy’s den? Consistently.”

“Well, I’m short a crowbar so this will have to do.” Evelyn fished out what was left of the ice cube from her Tequila ‘old fashioned’(7) and tossed it at the pair, hitting V in the neck.

Said woman ended the kiss abruptly and stared down the blue haired woman. “I was enjoying myself.”

“I’m sure you were, and so was Judy from the looks things. But I would like to get this over with and sit down to relax together, Judy’s told me quite a bit about you.”

V grinned as she pulled her grinning, blushing and visibly aroused output to her feet. “Same. Shame we haven’t been able to meet before now, just think of all the trouble we could have gotten into together before now.”

Evelyn smiled in spite of herself. “Hopefully this will make up for all that. Come on, I got a room reserved for us.”

Judy pecked V on the cheek before she could walk off. “Remember what I said V. I’ve gotta go finish editing some work so Susie will leave us alone later if we take things to the next step.”

V’s hand came up and cupped Judy’s cheek. “Kay. Regardless of how this swings I’ll see you in a bit.”

Judy leaned into the mercs hand for a second before nodding. “See you in a bit.”

V watched her walk off and let off a sigh when she rounded the corner. “Hey Mateo, if Q comes looking for me tell her to fuck off. I’m here on business tonight.”

Mateo waved in acknowledgment as V walked off.

“Not the best way to gain favor with your outputs boss.” Evelyn said as V started to follow her.

“Q can suck the largest and sourest of the dicks that Night City can offer.” V said with an eye-roll. “‘Sides she’s one bad decision away from losing the Mox.”

“Really?” Evelyn was genuinely shocked at that. She knew Susie Q was never the best choice in leaders that the Mox could have, but to think that she had lost enough pull to be replace. “Your doing?”

“Not entirely.” V said with a shake of the head. “You and I both know how idealistic Judy can be, it’s one of the things I love about her, it’s the reason she joined the Mox. And to see them turn down Joytoys and Dolls that need their help she couldn’t help but speak up, loudly and often, even going behind Qs back sometimes. Q tried to lay down the law and it might have worked too given the insecurities she was still dealing with thanks to that _puta de mierda/fucking cunt_ ex of hers.”

“I’m sensing a ‘but’.” Eve said as she opened the door to their meeting room. As much as she wanted to get down to biz, hearing how her best friend had stood up for herself was far too interesting.

“ _But_ , I was there to help her out of the slumps Q put her in.” V said taking a seat. “Got her to stop second guessing herself and focusing on what she wanted to do. We hadn’t gotten together yet at that point so I was really happy she trusted me enough to share it with me.” V finished with a small smile. “After a bit Rita started helping her out. Taking out or beating up abusive pimps and clients or just helping out the various sex workers in general. It kind of just snowballed from there. Q tried to stop it, put a lid on things but it ended up doing more harm then good.”

“So whose up to replace her? Judy?”

“Oh goodness no.” V said after a chuckle. “Rita is actually up to replace Q once she fucks up something bad enough. Only reason she hasn’t yet is because she’s still training up her replacement.”

“Really? Didn’t think there was anyone who could live up to her exacting standards.”

“Yep. Molly, the woman whose out there right now next to her. Use to be a Doll before Rita and Judy flatlined her pimp. Real piss bucket that one. Would let clients abuse her so long it was nothing that could stop her from doing her job. So they would beat her, put out cigarettes on her, cut her up, anything they were willing to pay for.”

“Bastard.” Eve spat.

“May he rest in piss.” V agreed “Rita fronted the cash for the arms and my Ripperdoc did the swap-out. She’s one of the many the Mox have been helping out lately and their numbers have been swelling, even if unofficially since Q won’t let them in all official like.”

“I’m sure Susie has been loving that. She’s always been so obsessed with staying under the radar.”

“You have no idea.”

“So, is Rita ready for when Susie is ousted?”

“She’s almost there _mi mamá/my mom_ runs El Coyote Cojo and has been teaching her what she’ll need to know to keep Lizzy’s and the rest of the Mox’s business’ going and she already has the leadership thing in the bag so any help she needs will be there for her if she needs it.”

“I’m glad things have been looking up for the Mox’s” Evelyn said fondly

“Same. But how bout we get down to business?”

“We have been dallying quite a bit haven’t we?” Evelyn said as she lit up another cigarette. “In theory the jobs simple. Get in, steal the item, get out”

“Yet it’s always in practice that things get complicated.”

“No argument there.” the Doll said pulling a Shard from her purse and handing it off to V. “I’ll walk you through it.”

V nodded as she slotted the Shard causing information to flutter over her HUD. A picture of a modified Relic Shard was most prominent. She had seen the ones for market but this one was off somehow, most likely a prototype.

“The target is a Relic Shard Biochip that’s a prototype and precursor to Arasakas’ ‘Secure Your Soul’ program. Seemingly developed separately from the ones going on the market. One of a kind and worth quite a bit to my buyers.”

The image changed to the picture of a man that V was _very_ familiar with.

“It’s currently in possession of one Yorinobu Arasaka, oldest son of Saburo Arasaka. On top of having a shitload of daddy issues, little Yori stole the chip from one of his fathers lab several months ago.”

The images changed again to another picture of a building V was, again, familiar with.

“The chip and Yorinobu are currently in the Emperors Suite of Konpeki Tower, top floor.”

“Whats the time frame?” V asked as she ejected the chip and leaned back into the couch.

“Three weeks. After that Yorinobu is selling it off to Netwatch.”

“Security around him?”

“Other then what's provided by the hotel? Next to nothing, he dismissed all the guards provided by his father thinking of them as nothing more then spies for the man. And his only bodyguard is a cyborg.”

“This ‘borg got a name?”

“If he does it hasn’t been used while I’m around.”

V frowned. She didn’t like unknowns like that. 1 ‘borg as security for someone like Yorinobu Arasaka? Must be a bad motherfucker to pull that off.

“You might be able to identify him through the BD I shot of the suite.”

Vs eyes cut so sharply to Evelyn the woman jumped slightly. “You shot a BD there, seriously?”

“Yes.”

V’s eyes narrowed in thought. “Who’s they buyer for this thing exactly?”

“Netwatch.”

V studied Evelyn closely, the woman was a stranger but everyone had various tells that were universal while lying or being uncomfortable.

“You’re hiding something. Something important. Tell me now or I walk and tell Judy to do the same.”

“I’m not-” she cut herself off and took a breath, here’s hoping Judy was right. “I was originally hired by the VooDoo Boys in Pacifica to take a simple BD recording of the Suite. After the meeting I started fishing for info from clients Clouds who were from there and learned some rather disturbing things.”

“Like how every outsider they hire ends up dying in one fashion or another rather conveniently before they have to pay up but after they complete what they were hired to do?”

“Yes. Like that.”

“And how does Netwatch tie in? And why would they even give a shit? Yorinobu is going to be selling it to them anyways why would they-” V stopped herself. She was acting like a gonk again and only thinking of the immediate instead of what was beyond it. “It’s deniability. They get the chip from Yorinobu and he has potential blackmail material on them in the future. But if they get it from you, a lowly Doll that can disappear into the woodwork and has no reason to even come out about the theft or even approach them, well, all the better isn’t it?”

“I thought it was just a factional thing to be honest.”

“Could be that too. But I’ve dealt with them a time or two and anyone who could authorize something on this scale? They’re all true believers in the anti-AI rhetoric, the black wall will save us all blah blah blah.” V rubbed the back of her neck. “Whats the pay?”

“Sixty million Eddies and new identities for everyone involved who wants one.”

V put her head in her hands. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Even with a 50/50 split that would be more then enough for her and Judy to finally leave this damn city and set up anywhere they wanted and live in relative comfort and not work another day in their lives. They totally would though since the two would lose their minds with boredom before a month was up without something to do but it was an option.

V looked up and stared Evelyn in the eye. “I want to see this BD before I make a decision.”

“Deal.” Evelyn answered immediately. Judy had promised V would stay quiet and if all it took for her to get on board was to see the BD? That was and easy choice. “Lets go. Judy’s probably waiting already.”

V got up and followed Evelyn out feeling strangely tired. The walk down to the ‘Den’ was blissfully uneventful and when she saw Judy in her chair with an active wreath on she felt some of the tension leave her.

“Hey babe, having fun?”

The wreath deactivated after a moment and Judy looked at her with a smile that quickly turned into a frown and worry crossed her face. “Whats wrong V, the job really that bad?”

“No it’s not that. It’s doable, but its dangerous. I just need to see the BD she made before I make my decision.”

“No problem. I’ll get your profile up and get things going. Go ahead and take a seat.”

“Thought Susie didn’t like having V here? You’re able to sneak her in enough to make storing her profile worth it?” Evelyn questions with a smirk.

Judy tapped the editor chip in her head. “Keep a copy of it stored here in case I ever need it. Like having a little piece of her on my mind all the time.” she finished with a look at V.

“And here I just have to keep that picture you drunk texted me after we just started dating pinned on my HUD.”

“You kept that?!”

“Of course I did.” V grinned slyly. “You should be proud of your modeling skills Jude. I’ve yet to see anyone pull off that particular advertisement as well as you.”

Judy’s blush spread out to the roots of her hair and it disappeared past her crop-top.

“You modeled Judy?” Evelyn said with mock surprise. “How could you keep this from me?”

“You came down here for the BD right?” Judy said frantically “Here V, put this on.” she came around her desk and put the wreath on V’s head.

V grabbed her hand before it could pull back and put a kiss on her palm.

“Kinda scaring me V.” Judy said as she knelt down next to the Netrunner chair.

“Sorry. This whole thing is just kind of coming together in my head and I think I might actually be able to pull it off. Just trying to keep myself grounded is all.”

Judy nodded. Moving her hand from V’s lips to her cheek and allowing the woman to lean into her touch.

Off to the side Evelyn shifted uncomfortably at the display. As a Doll was able to portray such feeling and action easily but those were a pale imitation of what was on display between Judy and her Lover. She didn’t begrudge them their interaction, the genuine show of emotion that was in no way faced or calculated just made her a little uncomfortable in her own skin.

After a few moments the women separated with Judy shooting a grateful smile at Evelyn as she made it back to her desk.

“Right V, you know the drill. I’ll drop you in and we’ll get to work.”

“Cool. When you link audio make sure Evelyn is there too.” V looked at said woman. “Might need some clarification about some things.”

“No problem.”

V gave a thumbs up and the wreath started flashing in her eyes as it synced with her neuro-profile and in a bright flash she was in.

The first thing she felt was anxiety to a distracting level and quickly entered the editing mode, separating herself from the emotive track of the BD and causing it to pause automatically.

“Mic check Jude, everything good?”

“ **All good on this end**.”

“Evelyn?”

“ **I’m here too.** ”

“Preem. How long ago did you scroll this?”

“ **Three days ago. That an issue?** ”

“Opposite actually. Konpeki changes its security layout every few months and with Yorinobu staying there it will still be the same if I decide to do this.” V resumed the scroll, at this point Evelyn was still in the elevator and she did a quick scan to make sure it was still clean.

“ **Isn’t it a bit of a security oversight for there to be no cameras or microphones in the elevators?** ” asked Evelyn.

“Microphones are hidden in the shaft, not the car itself.” V paused the scroll as the elevator dinged. “After all once someone scans it they’ll assume, like you did, that they aren’t bugged and continue on with whatever, possibly sensitive, conversation they want. Thing is thought, the elevator walls are paper thin and with the noise dampening in the shaft no one can tell. The microphones are spaced every few feet on all sides and can pick up any conversation going on inside. The door helps with the illusion as that is sound proof and people will assume so for the rest of the car when they hear nothing until the doors open.”

“ **You know this how, exactly?** ”

“Former Arasaka Counter-Intelligence. Know all the tricks and secrets of the trade. Even wrote a few of them myself. Didn’t Jude tell you?”

“ **Didn’t get to that part, no. We’ll have to talk about it over drinks some time.** ”

“No arguments there.” V resumed the BD and the elevator doors opened to reveal a massive 7 foot cyborg. “Someone eats their vegetables.”

Evelyn stepped out of the of the elevator and the ‘borg walked past to enter it. V let the BD continue, ignoring the ‘borgs crass comment and paused it again just as the elevator doors started closing.

“Right then, lets see who you are.” V scanned the ‘borg and a name popped up, Adam Smasher(8).

“Fuck.”

“ **You know him V?** ” asked Evelyn “ **The name is familiar** **but I can’t place it.** ”

“He’s a Night City ‘Legend’, grim one too. Did some military work, got kicked then did some merc work. Eventually ended up in Arasaka employ back in the early twenty tens after his body got turned to mulch and went full ‘borg. Guy was a fucking psychopath to start and getting the walking toaster treatment didn’t help with that. No such thing as ‘too much collateral damage’ where he’s concerned. Fucker revels in it. Rumors are that he got cacked in twenty twenty-three when Arasaka tower got nuked but looks like he survived.”

“ **You could take him.** ” Judy quipped.

“No doubt.” V said with a smile. She continues with the scans. The first thing she spotted was the alarm systems hard points on either side of the elevator entrance/exit. ‘ _Shepherd A-T’_ from what she could tell, Arasaka’s latest model, the firmware though was still kind of shit and a competent Netrunner could disable them from the inside with forged signatures.

Next came the cameras. V spotted two from this point in the BD and there were probably more but she only needed the model and how they were plugged into the system. The point was to disable the security so she wouldn’t have to worry about it while she worked. ‘ _Sage VI-C_ ’ was, again, Arasaks latest model and had more tech crammed in it then some surveillance vans and matched the specs from the scan.. Motion sensors, thermal activation, IFF systems, internal power and data storage. A competent Netrunner again was need to kill it from the inside.

She continued the BD, following Evelyn as she walked further into the room where Yorinobu was have a conversation with someone over a vid call. Nothing of real importance was said until he switched to his phone when Evelyn got too close. She used the audio scanner to pick up on what was said.

“You weren’t kidding Ev. This guy had more daddy issues then a sex store orgy.”

“ **Tell me about it. Accidentally called him daddy once during a session without my chip active and he was furious for weeks. Came back eventually though.** ”

“Not shocking. Guys like him have almost zero impulse control and probably spent the time venting at whatever poor sap got in his way.” Yorinobu spent almost the entire call harping on about his father and V almost gave it up as a bad job till whoever was on the other side of the line mentioned that Yorinobu should check the chips storage specs before the spoiled brat hung up. “Score. Daddies-boy has the spec sheet somewhere in the Suite. We get that and we might be able to sniff out where its being kept. Tech like that tends to need special storage before its active.”

“ **Think I remember him putting a tablet away before just before we got started.** ”

V hmmed and let the BD continue on, spotting an Arasaka _‘David IIIC’_ automated turret and just like the other security devices connected into the hotels subnet. Hopefully she could convince a runner to help on this without a Fixer.

She watched Evelyn lead him to the bedroom and start to fiddle with the control panel. She scrolled through his messages, noting important, just a scam alert and something from Clouds and she wasn’t able to get to the other two before Yorinobu got suspicious. V caught sight of the tablet just as Evelyn came around the corner and scanned it.

“Gotcha bitch. Thing need to be kept at five degrees C. You got thermal detection on those optics of yours Ev?”

“ **Of course.** ”

V switched layers once again and rewound the BD to near the beginning to find the right conditions. Immediately dismissing the chill bucket and mini fridge. She hit pay-dirt though on a spot in the far corner of the suite from the elevator.

“Got it. Specs match what's on the tablet so that's this done.”

“ **Right then, pulling the plug now.** ”

V’s world flashed white again as the wreath de-synced and she was back in the basement of Lizzy’s.

“So?” Evelyn asked as she walked up to V. “What's the verdict?”

V looked over at Judy who was a mixture of hope and apprehension before rubbing at her brow. “It’s doable but if I go through with this, it’s my way.”

“Of course. I had no intention of trying to make stipulations on the planning process. You obviously know what you’re doing here better then I could ever hope to.”

V nodded. “Do you have the money to bankroll this? Job like this can see a couple mil. sunk into it easy.”

Evelyn shift uneasily. “I don’t”

V looked over at Judy who nodded. “The the split goes sixty-forty our way then. Judy and I were planning on leaving night city for a while now so we have _just_ enough saved up to where we can fund it.”

“That’s fair.”

V smiled. “Well then here’s the plan.”

* * *

Yes I ended it there. Sorry But Like I said this was getting long(10465 words according to Libre Office) and want to try and keep things about this length going forward. TO make up for that present you

**Omake- Judy and V’s first (not)date!**

Judy sat in the booth at Toms, tapping her fingers impatiently, it was kind of her fault she supposed, having shown up 10 minutes early. Still, it gave her a chance to calm herself down and dink her coffee in peace.

The diner was only half full right now but would no doubt fill up quickly once noon rolled around, she could already smell and hear the prep work going on in the kitchen.

***Ding ***

Judy’s eyes snapped to the door, just as it had the last 3 times the bell at the entrance had gone off to see the woman she had been waiting for show up. She looked exhausted from what Judy could tell, her hair which had been tightly and intricately brained at the bar only sported a simple braid, her eyes had large bags under them and her skin which had glowed was now pale.

Once her eyes landed on Judy though a smile came across her face and she seemed to regain some of her energy and Judy couldn’t help the smile that came across her face either.

The woman, V she minder herself, headed strait towards her booth. Only stopping briefly to talk to the waitress before sitting across from Judy.

“You look terrible.” It popped out of Judy’s mouth by accident and her eyes widened in horror.

V’s head dipped and Judy saw her shoulders start to shake

“I’m sorry V.” she said quickly “I didn’t mean to say that out loud and-”

*snort

Judy stopped and stared. Was V-

V tilted her head back and burst out laughing, drawing looks from just about everyone in the diner. It took her a minute to finally calm down enough to get herself under control.

“Sorry.” V said letting a quick giggle out. “It’s just all week people have been treating me like I’m made of glass and hear you just blurt that out first thing I couldn’t help myself.”

“It’s alright.” Judy said fighting a small blush. She hadn’t expected to enjoy hearing the other woman's laugh so much

“I do kinda look like shit though huh?” V asked while gesturing to herself.

“Long night?”

Judy saw V bite her lip before she finally spoke. "The night we met and talked? I was fired from my job at Arasaka.”

“Kay. So you been pullin’ all-nighters job hunting?”

“No. Didn’t know it at the time but I was an addict.”

“How do you not know something like that?”

“It kind of snuck up on me. My job at Arasaka was high-stress at the best of times. Last four months I’ve been running on three hours of sleep and neuro-stims.”

Judy flinched at that. One time out of sheer stupidity she had gone a week on a schedule like that and ended up sleeping for a day and a half straight and feeling like she had a hangover for a week. How V was even functioning right now was a small miracle in her eyes.

“Yeah it’s kinda bad right now. Had a hormone regulator that was keeping the worse of the symptoms and drawbacks at bay but when I was fired it was deactivated. It took an hour or so but they hit me. Hard. Luckily my ripper knows what he’s doing and saved my life else I probably woulda died from the withdrawal effects that morning.”

“Here ya go suga’.” Judy nearly jumped out of her seat when the waitress put a cup of coffee in front of V and left the pot on a warmer on the table.

V took a sip and let out a pleased sigh. “Thanks miss. This is just what the doctor ordered.”

“Just let me know if you need anything else.” coffee delivered the waitress walked off to help other customers.

“So you’re, uh, recovering then?” Judy was a little unnerved by just how casually the woman had mentioned a near-death experience.

“Slowly but surely. Slept almost three days and will probably be sleeping a good sixteen or so hours a day for a week or two but I’ll get better. Just gotta take it one day at a time.” she downed most of her coffee in one go and refilled it.

“So what did you do at Arasaka?” Judy was curious. The woman had picked quite a bit about her so quickly while at the bar and she was curious on what had led her to those kinds of skills.

“I started off in accounting, doing payroll and the like. I messed up though, hacked the NCPD database to clean up some of my record. Arasaka found out and a ‘talent scout’ of sorts brought me in for questioning. After that he gave me an option, join Counter-Intelligence or get flat-lined. You get three guesses on what option I took and none of them count.”

Judy watched V chug most of her coffee in one go again, figuring she needed the caffeine to stay awake if what she was going through was even half as bad as she thought.

“After that it was a climb to the top. Ended up having to set up my first two boss’ for a fall because they were such shit head. After that I was in charge and eventually got noticed by the Director. Spent three years only answering to him and handling some of the most important work in the department. Didn’t last though, obviously. Director was in a pissing match with the one in Spec-Ops and she loved to fuck with him and eventually it got to the point where he gave me some bullshit ‘loyalty test’.” V snorted “He fucked up the intel gathering so bad he might as well walked into Spec-Ops and announced he was out to zero her lover. I took the fall of course, but it actually worked out for me. If I had been terminated in any other way it would have been with a bullet and not just losing nearly everything of monetary value. I’m good at what I did though and saw it coming so I was able to set things up a while ago in case things went south and at least saved some things.”

Judy blinked. “Wow. That’s kind of fucked up.”

V shrugged. “Eh. It’s all good. Lived through it all and was even able to make sure they didn’t get my cat.”

“You have a cat?”

“Yep.” V said with a smile and took out her phone to show Judy a picture of the bald creature.

“He’s adorable.” she most definitely did NOT squeal. “What's his name?”

“Nibbles. When I first got him as a kitten he would chew on _everything_.”

The two sat in a comfy silence for a bit. One digesting what she had learned about her companion(?) and the other just enjoying the others company. And the coffee, it was really good.

“So.” Judy started before second guessing herself.

“It’s fine, go ahead and ask. If it’s something I don’t want to answer I’ll say so and we can move on.”

Judy bit her lip. “If you weren’t gonna get fired that night would you have still tried to talk me up?”

V paused her drink midway and set it back down. “I don’t know honestly. I had planned to be at Lizzy’s a bit later on so it’s entirely possible that if things hadn’t gone as they did I wouldn’t have met you. But if the stars had aligned and we had actually met that night and I though I was still going to keep my job? No. I can’t say that I would have.” V said honestly.

“Why?”

V finished her coffee before answering. “I’m a workaholic. I barely had time for my sex-friend neighbor let alone an actual relationship. It wouldn’t have been fair to you or anyone I started a relationship with.”

“So what do you plan to do now?”

“Not one hundred percent sure to be honest.” V poured the rest of the pot into her cup. That had gone fast. “Right now my _mamá y hermano pequeño molesto como el infierno/mom and annoying as hell little brother_ are making sure I stay put and recover. After that? Might see if I can’t find some work as a merc. Got all this Corporate sponsored combat experience, might as well use it.

Judy blinked. “ _¿Tú hablas Español?/You speak Spanish?”_

“Heywood levantó. _/_ _Haywood raised.”_ V said giving a small salute with her coffee cup. She froze mid sip however when she saw movement outside.

“V, what's wrong?” Judy asked turning to look outside.

“Get under the table now.” V said calmly. “This place is about to be robbed.”

Judys eyes widened before quickly slipping under the table. Just in time too.

2 men burst into the diner, kicking in the door and brandishing guns. “Everyone down now!” the larger of the two shouted.

V saw him cycle the shotgun. The sound alone had all the physiological effect of shooting a round in the air and causing many patrons to duck down their heads, it also allowed V to see that the gun wasn’t even loaded. She took in the rest of him noticing his shaking hands and how his eyes were darting back and forth. His friend wasn’t much better. His gun was probably empty too and his hands were shaking just as bad. She also noticed the signs of drug abuse on him that had faded. A former addict then, but why hold up a Diner before the lunch rush had filled up the register? As she watched the 2 for a minute the story started to unfold in her mind on what was going on.

“You know you two don’t have to do this.” she spoke up from her booth.

Both men turned towards her guns up, she didn’t even blink.

“Don’t tell what we do and don’t have to do lady.”

V was getting tired and out of coffee so she really needed to wrap this up before she passed out or Jackie decided to be a gonk and come in here guns blazing when he noticed what was going on once he was done messaging Misty.

Direct approach it is then.

She looked at the thinner of the two. “You’re a former drug addict, Green Spice from the looks of it. Been clean for a few months, congrats on that by the way. Your dealer probably tried to get you back on the wagon a few times though but when that didn’t work he pull some bullshit out of his ass and said you owed him for product you don’t remember him giving you for free. Probably threatened you or someone you care about or got a bit physical about it. Either way he wants the cash and you don’t have it so you decide to rob a Diner before the lunch most likely in the hopes that the rush later will make up for any losses.”

The two glanced at each other before the larger one spoke up. “Oh you’re good.”

“I try.” V said with a smile.

“Doesn’t help us though does it?”

“What if it could?” V asked with a raised eyebrow. “I know a fixer who get get you work to either pay this cretin off or knowing him, we could explain the situation and he’ll take care of the little sit himself.”

“We’re not mercs.” the skinny one said

“I hadn’t noticed.” V said sarcastically. “Look fixers don’t just have shooty bang-bang jobs. They also have their ear to the ground about other things. Either of you have any skills outside of bad robbery plans?”

She heard a snort below the table and nudged her knee over.

“I can fix anything with wheels and an engine.” the large one said with a large grin.

“That’s actually really useful. So you two game then?”

“Yeah.” The skinny one said lowering his gun. He was suddenly hyper aware of the fact that they were still ‘technically’ robbing the place. “Um, how should we handle this now though?”

“I got it.” the larger one said snapping his fingers. He snatched the shotgun out of his friends hand and threw both of them in the recycle bin. Before shoving him into the booth across from V. Judy, not wanting to get stepped on scurried out from under the table just as the larger one got in.

Both men blink as she stood up and dusted herself off. “Ooops?” the skinny one said.

Judy just glared at them and sat next to V, glaring at the 2 the whole time.

The skinny one nudged his friend in the ribs who must have gotten some kind of message as he turned and spoke to the Diner occupants in general. “Uh sorry about that everybody. Shows over though, so back you your meals.” He turned back towards V and Judy. “And sorry for interrupting your date.”

“Not a date.” Judy said.

“Right~.” the skinny one said. “So since you’ll be helping us out I guess you should know our names huh?”

“Would help yeah.” V was missing her coffee so much right now.

“I’m Coop.” the large one said, grin firmly in place.

“Jamie.” the skinny one said simply.(9)

“Right. Let me give my guy a call.”

V brought up Padre’s number and called the man.

“ _ **Ah V, how are you doing this day?”**_

“Doing good Padre. I got some lost souls in need of guidance if you’re able.”

“ _ **I always have the time to**_ _ **g**_ _ **uide those who have strayed from the path.**_ ”

“Glad to hear it. I’ll let them explain the reasoning when they show up but one of them is a good mechanic so if you have anything along those lines it would be most helpful.”

“ _ **I will guide them as best I can.**_ ”

“Thanks Padre. I owe you one.”

“ _ **May you go with god.**_ ”

V ended the call. The Diner had gone back to it’s normal hustle while she was on the Holo though she saw a few patrons still eyeing them nervously.

“So Padre said he’d help you out.”

“Nice!” Coop cheered and high fived Jamie

“I’m sure.” V took one of Padre’s card out of her pocket and handed it to Jamie since he seemed the most responsible of the two. “Go here and tell him whats going on. Padre might have a reputation but he helps those who need and deserve it.”

Jamie took the card with a grateful smile. “Thanks.”

The two left the booth leaving the two women alone and V let her head hit the table with a groan.

“You ok V?” Judy asked

“Not really. This was a disaster.”

“Don’t be so sure, I had fun and it was nice seeing you help those two out.”

“Think so?”

“Yeah. In fact, since I have your number.” Judys eyes glowed blue and V got a notification for new contact details. “Here’s mine, if you want someone to chat with feel free to text me.”

“Thanks. I better head out before I pass out. Talk to you later?”

“You bet. Get better soon V.”

(1)So I have the weirdest memory sometimes. Remembered an episode of NCIS from forever ago where someone was killed using this method. Tried looking it up but didn’t get anywhere. On a side note I’ll probably have some REALLY weird shit show up on auto complete on google for a while.

(2)Yes its a Ghost in the Shell reference. Judy has one so I wanted V to have one too. Also It’s just cooler imo for it to come out of her neck instead of her wrist.

(3) So did I as I wrote that. Damn I’m tired rn.

(4)In the game intro cinematic Stan mentions how the NCPD wont take the deaths of several officers lying down. I’m guessing the closing of Watson at the end of the gig is related to that, other then CDPR just artificially closing down a part of the map so you cant just explore everywhere and get Skippy right from the get go. What? No I’m not bitter about that, why would you say that?

(5) jean shorts. I only mention this cause I said this once at work and a few people looked at me like ‘wtf is that’?

(6)This is a favorite of my girlfriend. I added it in so she doesn't get jealous of my video game girlfriend

(7)A (hard liquor) old fashioned is just that liquor with a large ice cube and sometimes an orange or lime slice depending on the place.

(8)Yes I know it doesn’t show his name in the BD, I’m replaying that section to make sure I get stuff right, but I wanted it there to add some lore and info on the guy.

(9)Name the reference and get a walk on roll in the fic.


End file.
